Posted on 12/02/2015 12:27:51 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Turkish court to decide if comparing Erdogan to 'Rings' character Gollum a crime
It can't be flattering to be compared to "Lord of the Rings" character Gollum, but a Turkish court is trying to determine if it is a crime.
A doctor who likened President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the pasty, cave-dwelling creature is facing up to two years in prison in Turkey, where insulting the president is a crime, reports said Wednesday. Bilgin Ciftci is accused of sharing images of the two, but it is up to a court to determine whether a comparison to the muttering, gangrel creature from J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels and the hugely successful films is a punishable offense.
Unable to determine a physical resemblance, the court in the western province of Aydin asked a group of experts -- two academics, two psychologists and one movie expert -- to testify as to whether the comparison was an insult, Milliyet newspaper reported.
The judge presiding over the case admitted he has not seen the fantasy blockbusters directed by Peter Jackson. The court adjourned the case until February, while the experts analyze Gollum, Milliyet reported.
Ciftci was fired from the hospital where he worked and briefly detained in October for sharing images comparing Erdogan's facial expressions when eating, expressing surprise and amazement, to those of Gollum. While the case may be amusing to some westerners, it comes amid a growing crackdown on journalists, bloggers and citizens who are being taken to court on charges of insulting Erdogan and other top officials. Former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac went on trial in May on charges of insulting the president.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
"Cough ... Erdogan! Erdogan! ... Erdogan!"
Why, did he want to be compared to Sauron?
The good news for the Turkish justice system is that, when a country moves from democracy to totalitarianism, this phase of trying to justify the legal basis for the “crime” of insulting the leader is short-lived. The government moves pretty quickly to simply jailing, beating up and/or killing the offenders without a trial.
Wow, this could easily be something one might experience on an American University campus.
well it’s certainly not a compliment.
This is happening in the West as well. In Germany, Britain, Sweden, France and other European countries it is a hate crime and Islamophobic to criticize the leaders immigration policies. So the leaders are hiding behind the skirts of the muslims. If you criticize the immigration policies of the leaders you are criticizing the moslims so you are a hater and a bigot.
Back in the USA there is a doctor in Boston who is being fired because he talks about the health dangers of homosexuality. He is a doctor he is supposed to point out unhealthy behaviors but he is being driven out of his profession because he did something that the glbt groups do not like. See: www.massressistance.com
Heh ... here's a similar version from about twelve years ago.
Put up a side by side of Gollum’s and James Carville. The Turkish creep is a Gollum’s piker compared to Snake Carville.
The Left hates the Bill of Rights. This is prolly why libertarians shudder but then stick with us conservative cavemen.
Someone should explain our Alien and Sedition act mess to the Turkmen. And our college students, for that matter.
So it’s the Muslim wing of the Democrat Party that is trying to end constitutional freedom beginning with free speech. Democrats should be proud of themselves.
We in the US had our Alien and Sedition law, back in the founding era while the ink on the First Amendment was still drying.There is in fact a real problem, in that the United States has a president who is both the head of the government and the head of state (symbolic of the nation). You would rather not have the symbol of the nation insulted; you would expect the head of government of a free nation to be.
Recent Democrat presidents have made a fetish of expressing their arrogance by “apologizing” for the sins of the Framers of the Constitution. This begs for criticism, and makes them terrible choices for the “head of state” role. Of course, systematically lying (“that woman, Miss Lowenski,” “if you like your plan you can keep your plan,” said dozens of times) for personal/political expediency is even worse as a symbol of the country.
Not that their voters seem to care much . . .
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