By Heidi Trautmann
In Eskişehir in Turkey they have a Museum of Cartoon Art!
I had met Prof. Atila Özer, Director of the Anadolu University Research Centre for Cartoon Art on the occasion of the first International Olive Cartoon Competition in 2008 in Kyrenia where I had been given a special mention award for my cartoon. One of the first three prizes, the” bronze olive” went to Dr. Atila Özer. He later sent me a beautiful cartoon catalogue of the 50th anniversary of his department with cartoons for the anniversary occasion by over 100 international cartoonists.
Now, this museum has invited 21 Cypriot Turkish cartoonists with altogether 63 works for an exhibition to be opened on October 6 and to last until October 28. The participants are:
M. Serhan Gazioğlu, Musa Kayra, Hüseyin Çakmak, Alper Susuzlu, Mustafa C. Azizoğlu, Mehmet Ulubatlı, Zuhal Denizci, Mustafa Tozakı, Cemal Tunceri, Arif A. Albayrak, Bertan Soyer, Mehmet İlkerli, Sevcan Çerkez, Erdinç İlkerli, Zafer Tutkulu, Celal Deniz, Elif Atamaz Aşıcıoğlu, Ezcan Özsoy, Serkan Sürek, Dolgun Dalgıçoğlu, Devran Öztunç...
Hüseyin Cakmak sent me some cartoons which I am proud to show.
Dr. Atila Özer says in the forword of the book:
Human beings learned to draw before they began to write. They drew on Stones, walls, barks and terracotta. Although the purpose of these drawings is not clearly known, certain reserarchers acknowledged them as the first examples of painting and cartooning.