Social media abuzz after cartoonist filed complaint against teacher

ISTANBUL

Hundreds of people from different professions across the country found themselves at court doors for copyright infringement after Erdil Yaşaroğlu, one of the most renowned cartoonists in Turkey, took a legal action against a school teacher for unauthorized use of his works online.

Yaşaroğlu has filed a complaint against Bekir Salih Korkmaz, a school teacher from the Central Anatolian province of Konya, for using his cartoon and publishing it on a website without getting authorized permission.

A social media debate stirred after Korkmaz tweeted that police officers raided his home while he was waiting in front of the computer for conducting an online class on Jan. 18.

Korkmaz said that police officers confiscated his mobile phone and computers while his children were waiting online for the lesson.

Korkmaz explained that he used a cartoon of Yaşaroğlu in a story about “being thrifty and stinginess,” which he published on his personal website because of which the raid took place.

However, questioning the reality of the raid story, Yaşaroğlu wrote on Twitter that he did not demand a “house search” for anyone on the grounds of sharing cartoons without permission.

“It is very sad that Yaşaroğlu underestimated the trauma that my family and I went through. I cannot reconcile it with his artist identity,” Korkmaz said in a video he shared after Yaşaroğlu implied that the story was made up.

Following the spread of the social media debate, Korkmaz stated that he had spoken with Yaşaroğlu and his lawyer on the phone, adding that the cartoonist has given up the case.

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, Yaşaroğlu said that he has lodged a criminal complaint against internet sites that use his works only for commercial purposes.