Gollum has his preciousss, and so does Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan — himself.
That’s about the only explanation for why Turkey is focused, not on the important things going on in its country and on its borders, but instead on the childish question: Is Erdogan like Gollum in Lord of the Rings?
What the . . . ?
The question is central to the trial of Bilgin Ciftci, a Turkish man who is accused of insulting the Turkish president by sharing pictures online comparing Erdogan to J. R. R. Tolkien’s “small, slimy creature” Gollum. (Revel in that gloriousness for just a moment.)
But it gets nuttier: The Turkish court has adjourned the trial so that a panel of five experts can ascertain whether Gollum is, in fact, a good or bad former hobbit, thereby allowing them to determine the gravity of the insult against Erdogan.
“The prosecutor didn’t watch the movie, and he defined Gollum as ‘the monster in a bad role.’ But we said Gollum can’t be defined as evil,” Ciftci’s lawyer, Hicran Danisman, said. “The character itself is at war between good and bad. He is basically seen as a victim of society. The judge said he was familiar with the movie, but he couldn’t decide whether Gollum was good or bad.”
So basically what we’ve got is, indeed, a clear insult — just one directed at Gollum. Because while Gollum arguably fights against himself — and the evil power of the one ring that rules them all — Erdogan is quite plainly not a good man.
At least Gollum owns his behavior — whatever it may be.
This isn’t the first time a citizen has faced jail time for mocking the famously fragile Erdogan — a crime punishable by up to four years behind bars. Rather, it’s happened so many times it’s hard to keep them all straight.
The history of offenses against Erdogan for which people have been tried includes throwing darts at a board covered with his image; a depiction of him as a cat tangled in a ball of yarn (that one always gets me); and a group of high-school students calling him “lightbulb Tayyip” (you find the offense in that one).
#share#In November, two reporters for pro-Kurdish news outlets were arrested for insulting the president and a reporter for the Hurriyet daily newspaper was arrested for slander. In October, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly mocking Erdogan on social media. Before the teen, it was the editor-in-chief of a Turkish newspaper who was detained on suspicion of insulting the president in a series of tweets.
Of course, this could’ve all been prevented had Erdogan won his fight to ban the likes of Twitter and YouTube.
Even if these social-media insults were straightforward and indisputable, none are deserving of jail time. But tell that to the seven journalists currently sitting behind bars in Turkey. (Until last year, it had the most jailed reporters in the world.)
Erdogan has the One Ring that rules them all and in the darkness binds them. Or, rather, in the darkness silences them.
All of this and Erdogan still had the gall to say last year, “Nowhere in the world is the press freer than it is in Turkey. I’ve very sure of myself when I say this. The press is so free in Turkey that one can make insults, slander, defamation, racism, and commit hate crimes that are not tolerated even in democratic countries.”
Let’s get back to Gollum.
Ciftci, the man who made the comparison, isn’t a journalist or a writer. He was merely a citizen who, until he got fired over all of this, was working for Turkey’s public-health service. He’s just a man who posted a couple of funny pictures, which should be his fundamental right.
But not in Turkey. Erdogan has the one ring that rules them all and in the darkness binds them. Or, rather, in the darkness silences them.
Free speech is a fundamental right. Dissenting from political leaders voted by citizens into office is a fundamental right. And insulting presidents who dubiously manage to get themselves elected time and time again is practically a duty.
Say what you will about Gollum, good or evil, he at least had entertaining depth. And, since this isn’t Turkey, I feel free to say he’s mildly more attractive than Erdogan.