Musa Kart: Cartoons a buttress against the policies of duress

ORHUN ATMIŞ

Our cartoonist Musa Kart, making a speech at the ceremony, said, “We will continue to use humour and cartoons as a buttress against the policies of duress.”
 
The Çukurova Cartoon Festival, held for the second time by Çukurova Municipality and staged this year on an international basis, ended with the award ceremony conducted at the Orhan Kemal Culture Centre following the events of the second and final day. The results of the “family” category Cartoon Award and the Musa Kart Press Freedom Award named after our newspaper’s cartoonist Musa Kart, decided on by the jury consisting of Bülent Arabacıoğlu, Hicabi Demirci, İ. Serdar Sayar, Sefa Sofuoğlu, Nuhsal Işın, Ali Raşit Karakılıç and Mehmet Saygın, were announced at the ceremony chaired by Tan Oral. Oktay Bingöl emerged as the winner of the Musa Kart Press Freedom Award, contested for by adults. Gülfiden Özdilek was second and Ömer Çam was placed third. In the Cartoon Award whose contestants were children aged 10-15, Ceyla Özcan was first, Duygu Sarıoğlu second and Sude Nimet Kılıç third.
 
“Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Akın Atalay and Emre İper are still behind bars just for conducting journalism and being in the opposition.”
 
With the video made for Musa Kart receiving massive applause prior to the award ceremony from the people who had thronged into the salon, Kart also made a speech at the end of the ceremony. Musa Kart, starting his speech by thanking Çukurova Mayor Soner Çetin, announced, “I currently stand before you as a defendant on release pending trial in the Cumhuriyet trial and a custodial sentence of up to 29 years is sought against me. I was released, but my colleagues are still in prison. Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Akın Atalay and Emre İper are still behind bars just for conducting journalism and being in the opposition. I send them greetings from here.”
 
“We will continue to use humour and cartoons as a buttress against the policies of duress.”
 
Kart continued his speech as follows: “The song goes: ‘This is love’s destiny, not mine.’ It is a bit like that. Yes, I am not the only cartoonist whose punishment and silencing is sought in this country. Yesterday just as today, the same things have been done to writers and cartoonists who criticise and inquire in this country, unfortunately. But, we will continue to draw, because we can surmount our pain through drawing and we can bandage our wounds through drawing. You see, it is clear where sullen-faced policies have taken society. But, we will continue to use humour and cartoons as a buttress against the policies of tension and duress. I thank you once again.”
 
“Henceforth, I want there to be no jailing of writers for what they have written and cartoonists for what they have drawn in Turkey.”
 
Çukurova Mayor Soner Çetin, in turn, said in his speech closing the festival, “We have carried our festival into an international dimension in its second year. Our cartoon courses continue at the Turhan Selçuk School of the Arts. The full extent of our aim is to be able to satiate our Çukurova sub-province and Adana with culture and arts events. Henceforth, I want there to be no jailing of writers for what they have written and cartoonists for what they have drawn in Turkey. I want a democratic country in which freedom and human rights are paramount. We need cartoonists who have not lost their childhood enthusiasm to attain the country of our dreams. We will one day without fail attain the Turkey we yearn for.”
 
In the workshop held on the second day of the festival, the cartoonists and illustrators drew cartoons of the children, as did the children of the cartoonists. Moreover, panels were held with Cihan Demirci and Zeynep Özatalay as well as foreign guests Oleksy Kustovsky and Marco de Angelis in attendance, and the performance “Looking and Seeing” was staged.