İstanbul Municipality has shut down its ‘1453 Culture and Art Magazine’ for featuring a graffiti that reads: “Erdo-gone! Inshallah Mashallah” in its latest issue. According to a written statement by Kultur Inc on Tuesday, the municipality-owned enterprise that publishes the magazine, the publication was closed down over its “bounderish, disrespectful and provocative content.”
The statement also said the municipality will file legal complaint for the magazine’s editorial coordinator, managing editor and the editor [-in-chief] who were already dismissed from their posts. Access to the magazine’s website was also blocked on Tuesday.
The contentious graffiti was published as part of a review for a 2016 documentary, titled Kedi a.k.a. “Nine Lives: Cats in İstanbul”, in the magazine’s latest issue. The graffiti painted on a wall behind a yawning cat is a scene at the end of the documentary.
“Mashallah and Inshallah” are two famous Arabic phrases that are used to express joy for something in the past, and for wishing on God’s will for something in the future, respectively.
İstanbul Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbas said that “It’s hard to swallow. It’s total vileness and turpitude.”
1453 Culture and Art Magazine is the latest media outlet to be closed down following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. More than 150 media outlets including radio and TV stations, magazines and newspapers have already been shuttered since last summer. (turkeypurge.com) May 16, 2017
