A Satirical Magazine in Its Own Way”: Politicisation and Dissent in Gırgır (1972-1983)

Abstract

The satirical weekly Gırgır, founded by Oğuz Aral in 1972, has been Turkey’s best-selling satirical magazine of all times. Characterized by a multitude of genres and styles, its contents ranged from written jokes to comics and political cartoons. Such diversity has prompted scholars to present this magazine in different, often contrasting ways, especially with reference to the nature and strength of its satire. This study intends to contribute to solving the ambiguity concerning whether Gırgır’s caricatures and cartoons may be deemed political or not. For this purpose, it focuses on its satirical repertoire from its early days up to the end of the military regime of 1980 to 1983, the most challenging time in terms of freedom of expression and dissent. This article argues that satire in Gırgır became increasingly political parallel to the growing politicisation of society in the 1970s and that the magazine did not bow to political pressure under the military rule. Especially its reactions to the repressive climate of the regime allow us to define its satire as political.

Global Sceptical Publics

“…Starting with a modest circulation of 40,000 copies weekly, Gırgır ended up selling as many as half a million copies per week in the late 1980s (Demirkol 2018, 105). 9 For a whole generation of youngsters who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, Gırgır became an integral part of collective memory and nostalgia (Marcella 2021). Gırgır's success was certainly linked to the fact that the Turkish state had not given up its national broadcasting monopoly, which happened in the early 1990s.…”

“…Gırgır also actively brought in talented young cartoonists from among its readership (Tunç 2001, 247;Marcella 2021). Readers were encouraged to send in their own drawings, on which they would receive personal feedback from the editors.…”