Hello, welcome to the section entitled "The
Representation of Mediterranean
Migration in Turkish Humorous Magazines".
At the end of this lecture, you will understand
how Mediterranean migration is portrayed in Turkish humorous magazines.
In this lecture, first of all, I am going
to talk about the brief history of
Turkish comics and caricatures in Turkey.
Then I will define what a Turkish
humorous weekly, bi-weekly or monthly is.
Then I am going to of course talk about the Mediterranean migration.
Lastly, I will talk about how Mediterranean
migration in Turkish humorous magazines is portrayed.
The origins of Turkish comics can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire.
We first see the appearance of caricatures
in humorous magazines in 1870 in a magazine
called Diogenes, derived from the name of the
ancient Greek cynical philosopher Diogenes of Sinope.
The manifesto of this magazine was Diogenes'
worldwide known response to Alexander the
Great, which is "Stand a little less between me and the sun".
Of course, it was a direct address to the
Ottoman government pleading for a censor-free press.
Throughout Turkish history, humorous magazines
have always been a very strong opposition.
Since then, we have seen nearly a thousand
weekly, bi-weekly or monthly humorous magazines with different titles.
On the left here, we see the inaugural issue
of the first humorous weekly from 1870, while
on the right is Le Man, which has been
in circulation for about 35 years.
Before we go further in our lecture, it would
be better to define what a humorous weekly, bi-weekly or monthly is.
A Turkish humorous weekly magazine is a periodical
publication released in Turkey that primarily
features satire, cartoons, comic strips and
humorous commentary on political, social and cultural issues.
A weekly or bi-weekly magazine generally has
16 pages and can be in any printed format.
Monthly humorous magazines typically consist
of 48 or 64 pages and may be available in normal or large format.
But beware that some magazines I will
mention here are published irregularly.
First of all, let's define what Mediterranean migration is.
Mediterranean migration refers to the movement
of people across the Mediterranean Sea, primarily
from North Africa and the Middle East towards Europe.
This complex phenomenon is fuelled by numerous
push factors in countries of origin and transit,
such as armed conflict, political instability,
human rights violations, poverty, insufficient
economic prospects and climate change.
In Europe, push factors like perceived safety,
enhanced economic opportunities and established
diaspora networks significantly influence migration.
The migration frequently involves dangerous
journeys conducted on overcrowded and unseaworthy
vessels resulting in hundreds of fatalities
and disappearances each year, especially along
the central Mediterranean route, recognized as the deadliest.
Historically, the region has had various migrant movements.
Nevertheless, recent years have observed
a notable rise in irregular crossings.
This has led European states to enforce harsher
border regulations and collaborate with North
African countries to reduce departures, frequently
raising concerns regarding humanitarian
implications and human rights violations.
Following the description of Mediterranean
migration, we will now concentrate on its
representation in Turkish humorous magazines.
It's possible to argue that in Turkish humorous
magazines, there are three different
portrayals of the Mediterranean migration.
The first one portrays the migration crisis as a humanitarian problem.
The second one sees the migration as a disintegrated members of society.
And the last one depicts the migrants as a
threat to Turkish culture and daily life.
Throughout my lecture, for each type of portrayal,
I'm going to use caricatures selected from Turkish humorous magazines.
In the caricature on the left, we see an African
man drowning in Venice and the caption reads,
an African man who drowned in Venice was mocked.
People yelled, "Go back to where you came from.
" We see two men on the upper left shouting, "Go
back to where you came," and "Dirty refugee.
" And the African man shouts, "I would drown
in the water more painlessly than drown among you.
"
He doesn't ask for help, and a gondola is seen
keeping its operation as if nothing happened.
On the right one, we see a refugee family
rising to the sky like angels after death.
The caption says, "400 individuals perished
following the sinking of a migrant vessel in the Mediterranean Sea.
" The father says, "Those shows ahead of us
are Italy," and the mother says,
"Look, there is Germany over that hill.
" The older brother adds, "Thank God, at least
we saved them from here," whereas the little
brother utters, "Wow, super places.
" Now, we have moved to the section where I am
going to talk about how migrants are
shown as disintegrated members of society.
In İltam Dilek's caricature on the left,
we see a Turkish man grabbing a tourist by the collar.
The tourist is probably from Europe as he has yellow hair and blue eyes.
The Turkish guy says, "Turkey isn't really
like this, you know, there are Arab tourists
in Turkish, and Turkey is modern in English.
" The reason why the Turkish man got very angry
is that he thinks the woman in black wheels
ruin Turkey's modern and European-looking image.
This cartoon is important because it powerfully
captures the social tension and anger
directed towards Syrians in Turkish society.
On the right one, we see again two good-looking
Turkish girls grumbling about the Syrian beggar.
"They shouldn't come to our country," says
the first girl, whereas the second one adds, "Oh, indeed.
"
Having understood the conversation in Turkish
between the two Turkish girls, the Syrian
beggar utters in a thought bubble, not in
a speech bubble, "It's not like I was dying
to leave my comfy apartment with a heater
and a nice sofa set to come sit on a damn rock.
The world dragged us here.
Unbelievable.
" This cartoon shows the two faces of migration.
The residents of the country are opposed to
the presence of refugees while the refugees
themselves are reluctant to remain in the host nation.
In my last section, I am going to talk about
how Syrians are shown as a threat to Turkish culture and daily life.
Just three or four years ago, one of the hot
debates in Turkey was about Syrians who were
enjoying their time on the beaches with the traditional Shishas.
Here we see a map showing the western coasts of Turkey.
The Turkish guy who is smoking says, "Summer
is coming and the Syrians will be hitting the beach again.
They are going to drive me nuts.
I am already at my limit.
The moment one of them takes his shirt off, I swear I will snap.
And you, stay out of my way.
" And the other Turkish man who is in conversation
with him, as a response, says, "We throw
the Greeks into the sea, but we don't
even let the Syrians go near the water.
So what are we actually doing, man?
" The smoking Turkish man responds, "We cannot go on holiday.
" This cartoon has the capacity to illustrate
how Syrians are depicted as a threat
to the daily lives of Turkish people.
This is the very last panel I would like to talk about.
This caricature clearly shows the anxiety in
Turkish politics, dreaming of a prime minister
of Turkey with Syrian roots delivering a
post-election victory speech from the balcony.
The prime minister of 2053 is portrayed as
speaking in the manner of our current president Erdogan.
The year 23 is notable as it marks the
millennium of the conquest of Istanbul.
Well, in summary, the migration crisis in
the Mediterranean has significantly impacted
Turkey with its effects prominently with it
in our media and Turkish humorous magazines
as I have attempted to illustrate here.
Thank you very much for listening to me.
Thank you.
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