Photo credit: @juana79356170.jpg

An image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a banana stuck in his ass was too much for some Turks to handle apparently. The image, by artist Thomas Baumgärtel, titled "Turkish dictator," was taken down from the “Art Karlsruhe fair” in southwestern Germany after protests.

The gallery owner, Mr Michael Oess, suggested the protests were politically organized: "There was a rush to the stand. It really was a staged event."

"They were agents."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Row at German art fair over ‘Erdogan with banana’ painting <a href="https://t.co/qjEb7kLNVY">https://t.co/qjEb7kLNVY</a> <a href="https://t.co/8mpVdV5sAe">pic.twitter.com/8mpVdV5sAe</a></p>— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimesofIsrael/status/967316202719649793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Germany has a large Turkish diaspora. Some 5 million people of originally Turkish origin work and live in Germany, and so this has some sway on public opinion. This is however not the first time Mr Erdogan has been able to influence what is happening in Germany.

<b>Jan Böhmermann</b>

Back in 2016, famous German tv host Jan Böhmermann had read a poem on national TV in which he claimed the Turkish president had sex with animals (goat) and was a blatant dictator.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The thing about censoring art is, many wouldn't have even known about this piece if it hadn't been taken down… "'Turkish dictator' Erdogan banana picture causes rumpus at German art fair" via <a href="https://twitter.com/dwnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dwnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/TcijKu2FrC">pic.twitter.com/TcijKu2FrC</a></p>— Oreo (@oreo_g) <a href="https://twitter.com/oreo_g/status/967318242292219905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2018</a></blockquote>

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In response, Mr Erdogan, well aware of Europe needing him to keep the border closed for all the immigrants from Iraq and Syria wanting to cross into Europe via the Turkish-Greek border, pushed Chancellor Angela Merkel to allow him to pursue Mr Böhmermann in a German court via an old law stating it was not allowed to insult another head of state. The law has since been revoked.

Source:

https://twitter.com/Hannibal1079/status/967308034820268032