''Gırgır'' (meaning ''Fun'' in English) was a Turkish weekly humor magazine published from 1972 to 1993 in Turkey.

History and profile

''Gırgır'' was founded by the brothers Oğuz Aral (1936-2004) and Tekin Aral (1941-1999). After having started as a newspaper insert, the magazine's first issue was published on 26 August 1972 with the motto "Life is a hassle, scraping a living, boredom, heartache, fighting with your spouse over money... The solution? ''Gırgır''. Also, ''Gırgır''." Oğuz Aral directed the magazine until 1989, during which time it became Turkey's best-known humor magazine. With its sharp political satire cartoons, ''Gırgır'' was one of the best selling cartoon magazines in Europe in the 1970s with a circulation of up to 450,000.N. Abadan Unat in: Südosteuropa-Handbuch Band IV. Türkei. Göttingen 1985, s. 575, Following the military coup on 12 September 1980 ''Gırgır'' was temporarily banned due to the publication of a

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

, which was deemed by the military authorities to be insulting Turkish national identity. In the mid 1980s a group of contributors left ''Gırgır'' and established another humor magazine, '' Limon''. Shortly after that another group from the magazine founded '' Hibir''. In 1989, the magazine was taken over by a large publishing group, and Oğuz Aral and other key staff members left. Following this circulation declined rapidly, and ''Gırgır'' finally folded in 1993. ''Gırgır'' had a great impact on the satire of its era, and several later humor magazines followed the example set by the magazine. Many accomplished satirists worked at ''Gırgır'', including Ergün Gündüz, İsmet Çelik, Nuri Kurtcebe, Engin Ergönültaş, İlban Ertem,

Necdet Şen Necdet () is a Turkish given name for males. People named Necdet include: * Necdet Calp (1922-1998), Turkish civil servant and politician * Necdet Darıcıoğlu, Turkish judge * Necdet Karababa, Turkish politician * Necdet Kent (1911–2002), Turk ...

, Suat Gönülay, Gürcan Özkan, Cevat Özer, Atilla Atalay, Latif Demirci, Sarkis Paçacı, Hasan Kaçan, Bülent Morgök, Galip Tekin, Mehmet Çağçağ, Metin Üstündağ, Meral Onat, Can Barslan, Uğur Durak, Behiç Pek, Cihan Demirci, Mim Uykusuz, Eda Oral, Gülay Batur, Özden Öğrük, Ramize Erer, Gani Müjde, Bülent Benli, Tuncay Akgün, Birol Bayram, Bülent Arabacıoğlu, Murat Kürüz,

M. K. Perker Mustafa Kutlukhan Perker (born 2 November 1972) is a Turkish artist. Career With the ability of producing work in different styles and techniques, he has built a successful career in both editorial illustration and comics. His work has appeared i ...

, and İrfan Sayar (who created the Rube-Goldberg-like ''Zihni Sinir Proceleri'' for the magazine). The rights to the name ''Gırgır'' are now held by Ertuğrul Akbay, and a magazine under that name was launched in 2008, but with no connection to the original ''Gırgır''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gırgır 1972 establishments in Turkey 1993 disestablishments in Turkey Defunct magazines published in Turkey Magazines established in 1972 Magazines disestablished in 1993 Magazines published in Istanbul Satirical magazines published in Turkey Turkish-language magazines Turkish political satire Weekly magazines published in Turkey