Penguen (English: Penguin) was a satirical magazine published in Turkey and distributed also to Northern Cyprus.

Penguen
Turkish satirical magazines "Penguen" and "Uykusuz"
FrequencyWeekly
Total circulation
(2010)
70,000[1]
Founded2002
First issue25 September 2002
Final issue18 May 2017
CompanyPak Publishing House
CountryTurkey
Based inBeyoğlu, Istanbul
LanguageTurkish
Websitewww.penguen.com

History and profile edit

Penguen was founded in 2002 by Metin Üstündağ, Selçuk Erdem, Erdil Yaşaroğlu and Bahadır Baruter.[1] The first issue was published in September 2002.[2]

In March 2005 Penguen was sued by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for several caricatures of him;[3] the magazine was acquitted.[4] In 2011 contributor Bahadır Baruter "faced a one-year prison sentence for a cartoon that [had] the words “There is no God, religion is a lie” on the wall of a mosque."[5]

In May 2012 its offices were the subject of an arson attack.[6] In 2015, two journalists from the magazine were given 11-month prison sentences for comments about Prime Minister Erdoğan.[7] In April 2017 it was announced that Penguen would be closed after four issues.[2] In a statement, journalists cited the decline in people reading magazines, and the lack of "free space" for journalists in Turkey.[7] The last issue of the magazine was published in May 2017.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Fazıla Mat, 8 April 2010, balcanicaucaso.org, Turkish humor
  2. ^ a b "Penguen dergisi kapanıyor". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  3. ^ Bianet, 25 March 2005, Magazine Sued for Erdogan Caricatures
  4. ^ US State Dept, 11 March 2008, 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Turkey
  5. ^ Freedom House, Freedom of the Press 2012 - Turkey
  6. ^ CNN Turk, 18 May 2012, Penguen'deki yangın kundaklamaymış
  7. ^ a b "Satire News". Private Eye (1445): 7. 2 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Penguen dergisi bu kapakla veda etti". CNN Turk (in Turkish). 17 May 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

External links edit