Cartoon character prepares for concert

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The photo left shows Spanish cartoon character Pocoyo while the photo right shows Turkish Pepee. Now the two similar characters are the issue of a legal process.

Turkish cartoon character Pepee, created by Düşyeri Cartoon and Animation Studios and airing on state channel TRT’s children’s channel for four years, is now preparing to take the stage.

Pepee will give his first concert in June at Istanbul’s Turkcell Kuruçeşme Arena. Pepee’s 38 songs will also be released in an album next month.

There will be many surprise events for children to make most of their day at the concert, which is expected to be attended by children between the ages of 3 and 7 and their parents.

Pepee’s name recently became a controversial issue for its similarity to the Spanish cartoon character Pocoyo. Zinkia (the owner of Pocoyo) officials came to Turkey a short time ago, where they held talks and replied to questions about what they would do about the problem.

“We have tried to collect evidence about this issue. Of course, we will take the necessary measures to prevent handicaps in front of our products, in which we have made a 35 million euro investment. Legal procedures have begun on the issue,” said Zinkia’s joint chairperson Maria Dolan.

Dolan called on the companies to which they issued licenses to feel comfortable, saying, “We will do our best to protect our own rights as well as the rights of those companies. We trust Turkish law. An internationally renowned character should not be imitated in any country.”

Just like Pepee, Pocoyo is about a young boy dressed in blue. It was awarded the Cristal Award for the “Best TV Production” at the 30th Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

The owner of the studio and creator of the Pepee, Ayşe Şule Bilgiç, said in March they were planning to make a Pepee 3D film soon.