Satire

Balkan media unites in condemning Paris attacks

Regional media unites, calling the recent terrorism in Paris an attack on freedom of expression.

Journalists in the region united to condemn the recent terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo. [AFP]

At least three people were injured Jan. 16 in clashes between anti-Charlie Hebdo protesters and police outside the French consulate in Pakistan's Karachi, officials said, including an AFP photographer who was shot in the back.
      

Many readers took exception to my giving links in my last piece to David Brooks of the New York Times, who wrote ?I am not Charlie Hebdo,? and to Jordan Weismann of Slate magazine, who wrote ?Charlie Hebdo is heroic and racist.? Others were angered by my asking why Maurice Sinet (Siné) was fired from Charlie Hebdo.

A local Turkish court has ordered to block access to pages on websites publishing the Jan. 14 cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, featuring the Prophet Muhammad.

The issue is the first since a deadly attack on the magazine?s Paris office claimed the lives of 12 people, including prominent cartoonists.

Turkey?s three leading satirical magazines, Leman, Penguen and Uykusuz, have opted for a common cover Jan. 15 in tribute of Charlie Hebdo, the French weekly targeted by a deadly attack last week that has been a source of inspiration for prominent Turkish cartoonists.

This week's post-attack edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will be made available in six languages including English, Arabic and Turkish, the chief editor said Jan. 13.
      

?I am Charlie Hebdo; because I, like many members of my generation, grew up reading and admiring satire, which, by definition, attacks sacred cows ? the powerful, the pious, the seemingly pure. Otherwise it is not satire,? a very dear friend of mine wrote on her Facebook account.

The prominent Turkish satirical cartoon magazine Leman released a special issue in honor of Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 12, featuring on its cover a picture of killed cartoonist Wolinski drawing while wearing a taqiyah [Islamic skullcap] at Istanbul?s famed Eyüp Sultan Mosque.

Tens of thousands of people joined rallies in cities across Europe on Jan. 11, singing the Marseillaise and holding up pens in solidarity with France after terror attacks left 17 people dead.
      
Some 20,000 people marched through the Belgian capital Brussels, holding banners saying "United against hate" and "Freedom of speech".
      

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic will take part in the solidarity march in Paris on Sunday which was organised as response to the terrorist attack on the editorial of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.