Is Erdagan Gollum or Smeagol?

A bit of light-hearted relief apart from the fact that someone is facing 2 years in jail for “insulting” the Turkish sultan

Man could get two years in jail for saying the Turkish president looks like Gollum

A Turkish doctor, Bilgin Ciftci, shared the meme to his Facebook page and is now facing trial for possibly insulting the president, an offense that is illegal under Turkish law. The problem is that the judges hearing the trial—Today’s Zaman reports that the case has been heard four times with no decision—don’t know whether Gollum is good or bad.

Peter Jackson to Turkish court: Pictures are Smeagol, not Gollum

Today’s Zaman,

3 December,2015

Peter Jackson, the director and scriptwriter of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” series is dismissing a Turkish court's attempt to determine whether or not the character Gollum is good or bad, claiming that the pictures in question depict Smeagol.

In October 2015 Aydın-based physician Dr. Bilgin Çiftçi was expelled from the Public Health Institution of Turkey (THSK) after sharing a meme that compared images of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the fictional character Smeagol (or Gollum), known for his grotesque appearance, showing them both eating and expressing surprise and amazement, thereby allegedly insulting the president. Çiftçi now faces a prison sentence of up to two years.

Jackson along with scriptwriters Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens, who worked on both films, gave a joint statement to The Wrap, a news portal covering entertainment and media. “If the images below are in fact the ones forming the basis of this Turkish lawsuit, we can state categorically: None of them feature the character known as Gollum. All of them are images of the character called Smeagol.”

The statement was made after the Sözcü daily reported on Dec. 1 that the Aydın 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance decided to have a group of experts look into the character of Gollum/Smeagol in order to decide whether or not Erdoğan was insulted. According to the daily, the group will be composed of two academics, two behavioral scientists and an expert on cinema and television productions.

“Smeagol is a joyful, sweet character. Smeagol does not lie, deceive, or attempt to manipulate others. He is not evil, conniving, or malicious -- these personality traits belong to Gollum, who should never be confused with Smeagol,” the statement from Jackson, Walsh and Boyens read.

“Smeagol would never dream of wielding power over those weaker than himself,” it stated. “He is not a bully. In fact he's very loveable. This is why audiences all over the world have warmed to his character.”

Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) defines the insulting of the president as a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to four years. More than 200 people have been accused of insulting Erdoğan since his election to the presidency in 2014.

Meanwhile - 

Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Keneş quits post due to pressure on media

Today's Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş, a journalist who has been at the helm of Turkey's best-selling English-language daily since it was launched in 2007, has resigned from his post over the intensified and unlawful government pressure in the form of dozens of legal cases that have targeted him as part of the government crackdown designed to muzzle critical journalists.

Keneş said on Thursday that he cannot perform his job as the editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman due to a series of criminal and civil lawsuits government officials have launched against him as part of the campaign of pressure on the independent media in Turkey. He has already been convicted in one defamation case and is facing many others that observers have said are nothing but intimidation and persecution of independent and critical journalists in Turkey.