British writer starts ‘offensive poetry competition’ about Turkey’s Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

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British author and journalist Douglas Murray announced the start of an “offensive poetry competition” about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 18, amid the ongoing “insult” row between a German comedian and the president.

Murray, who writes for the weekly Spectator magazine, penned the first poem in the competition, which is titled “The President Erdoğan Offensive Poetry Competition.”

The winning poem will be announced on June 23, though Murray said there would be no prize for the winner because he could not find a sponsor for the competition.

The news comes after German comedian Jan Böhmermann recited a sexually crude satirical poem about Erdoğan on his “Neo Magazin Royale” show on German public broadcaster ZDF on March 31, unleashing a bitter row about freedom of speech issues.

Erdoğan filed a legal complaint against Böhmermann over the poem on April 12, which was followed by Ankara’s request to seek his prosecution.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on April 15 that she had accepted the Turkish request for the prosecution of Böhmermann, who could be convicted under the rarely-enforced section 103 of the Germam criminal code on insulting organs or representatives of foreign states.

Meanwhile, Böhmermann has announced via his official Facebook page that he has decided to suspend his own TV show.