Erdogan demands removal of 'offensive' Geneva photo

Turkey has demanded that a photograph, blaming the death of a Turkish child on the Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be removed from an exhibition in Geneva. The demand bears similarities to the prosecution of German satirist Jan Böhmermann. The Genevan authorities have confirmed that they have received a complaint from the Turkish consulate to Switzerland. Just like Germany, Swiss law contains a clause prohibiting insults towards foreign leaders. The offending photograph is part of an exhibition from photographer Demir Sönmez. The photo in question shows a protest in Istanbul in which a banner proclaims that Erdogan was responsible for the death of a teenager. A spokesman for Geneva’s city council told the Swiss News Agency that a response would be filed with the Turkish complainant on Tuesday afternoon. It follows hard on the heels of a political storm in Germany, as legal proceedings were opened against satirist Jan Böhmermann on Anakara’s insistence.