Zehra Ömeroğlu drew a cartoon entitled "Pandemic Sex" for the Turkish satirical magazine LeMan in November 2020. Following the publication of the cartoon, she has been involved in a criminal prosecution for "obscenity" which is dragging on. By March 2024, the trial had already been postponed four times. Today, after thirteen court hearings, the author has her next court date on 26 June. She faces between six months and three years in prison.
The joke, published during the pandemic, alluded to the loss of taste and smell in people with COVID. In Zehra's cartoon, a man sniffs a woman from behind and think: "Ohhh... At least I didn't lose my taste and smell...".
Four years after the publication of the cartoon, and a lot of court rides, in a report published on 8 March 2024, the Obscene Publications Commission ("Muzır Neşriyat Kurulu") concluded that the cartoon for which she was on trial was obscene. As you read it, in Turkey there is a commission for "obscenity" matters and you can be tried and convicted for that. Needless to say, the cartoon was published in an adult magazine.
The Board for the Protection of Minors against Obscene Publications was established in 1927 by Law No. 1117. At that time, its members were mostly educators and writers, accompanied by one person from the Ministry of the Interior and one person from the Ministry of Justice. Over the years, the law was amended accordingly, and in 2004 its structure also changed. The council, which reports to the Prime Minister, was composed of representatives appointed by the National Security Council, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Council of Higher Education, the Presidency of Religious Affairs and the Association of Journalists.(Source).
Now, Cartoonists Rights Network International has awarded its annual Robert Russell Courage Award to Zehra. Terry Anderson, director of CRNI, explains the reasons for the award:
“I’m delighted our Board of Directors chose to honor Zehra this year, especially as we witness the change that is unfolding in Türkiye. In our view, her prosecution is based wholly on her gender; the same cartoon, in the same space and at the same time with a male byline simply would not have attracted the same (over)reaction from state censors.
Like many outspoken women in Türkiye, Zehra has been deliberately persecuted but this attempt to silence her has wholly backfired. As a direct result of her prosecution, Zehra’s cartoons are now seen in international media on a regular basis and her story will soon be told in a new graphic novel project that she’s working on right now. We commend her bravery and resilience, and above all her undaunted sense of humor.”
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
