Turkey’s irreverent satire mag Penguen shares tearful tribute for Charlie Hebdo

ISTANBUL

Tributes poured in from many Turkish cartoonists, who praised the murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Charb, Cabu and Wolinski.

Popular satire magazine Penguen has joined the tributes to the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, sharing a cartoon with its trademark Penguin in tears over the Jan. 7 massacre of 12 people at Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office.

The magazine also said in a Twitter post that it will dedicate its next edition to Charlie Hebdo. “We are very saddened. But we will still continue to draw, dedicating our next number to Charlie Hebdo,” it said.

Tributes poured in from other prominent Turkish cartoonists, who praised the murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Charb, Cabu and Wolinski.

Tuncay Akgün, the manager of Leman, a satirical magazine renowned for employing acidic sarcasm, said many of those who died in the attack were his close friends.

“Not only were they friends, but they also knew Turkey very well. They were all bred with the soul of 1968. [The killers] massacred three generations of cartoonists, who were only using the most important gain of the French Revolution: Freedom of thought and expression,” Akgün said.

Fellow Leman cartoonist Aslan Özdemir also joined the tributes. “I am proud of having met these brave humorists. I bow respectfully over the legacy that they left,” Özdemir said via tweeter.

Yılmaz Aslantürk, who draws cartoons for the popular Uykusuz magazine, expressed his dismay by saying “you cannot instill fear to humorists.” Both Leman and Uykusuz turned their social media profile pictures to black in a sign of mourning for the massacre.