Penguen (English: Penguin) was a satirical magazine published in Turkey and distributed also to Northern Cyprus.

Penguen
Turkish satirical magazines "Penguen" and "Uykusuz"
FrequencyWeekly
Total circulation
(2010)
70,000[1]
Founded2002
First issue25 September 2002
Final issue18 May 2017
CompanyPak Publishing House
CountryTurkey
Based inBeyoğlu, Istanbul
LanguageTurkish
Websitewww.penguen.com

History and profile

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Penguen was founded in 2002 by Metin Üstündağ, Selçuk Erdem, Erdil Yaşaroğlu and Bahadır Baruter.[1] The first issue was published in September 2002.[2]

In March 2005 Penguen was sued by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for several caricatures of him;[3] the magazine was acquitted.[4] In 2011 contributor Bahadır Baruter "faced a one-year prison sentence for a cartoon that [had] the words “There is no God, religion is a lie” on the wall of a mosque."[5]

In May 2012 its offices were the subject of an arson attack.[6] In 2015, two journalists from the magazine were given 11-month prison sentences for comments about Prime Minister Erdoğan.[7] In April 2017 it was announced that Penguen would be closed after four issues.[2] In a statement, journalists cited the decline in people reading magazines, and the lack of "free space" for journalists in Turkey.[7] The last issue of the magazine was published in May 2017.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b Fazıla Mat, 8 April 2010, balcanicaucaso.org, Turkish humor
  2. ^ a b "Penguen dergisi kapanıyor". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  3. ^ Bianet, 25 March 2005, Magazine Sued for Erdogan Caricatures
  4. ^ US State Dept, 11 March 2008, 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Turkey
  5. ^ Freedom House, Freedom of the Press 2012 - Turkey
  6. ^ CNN Turk, 18 May 2012, Penguen'deki yangın kundaklamaymış
  7. ^ a b "Satire News". Private Eye (1445): 7. 2 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Penguen dergisi bu kapakla veda etti". CNN Turk (in Turkish). 17 May 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
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