[WWII / COVER ART / COMMUNISM VS FASCISM] Akbaba. No: 205. 9 Kanunuevvel 1937. Illustration by Cemal Nadir, (1902-1947)

AKBABA. YUSUF ZIYA ORTAÇ and ORHAN SEYFI ORHON (Owners), Istanbul, 1937.

Original satyric periodical. Folio. (32 x 24 cm). In Turkish. 17, [1] p., color, and b/w ills.

A satyric Turkish magazine titled "Akbaba" with attractive cover art of "Iki inatçi keçi" [i.e. Two stubborn goats], published two years before the declaration of World War II, 1937, illustrated by a famous Turkish master cartoonist Cemal Nadir (1902-1947), showing two stubborn Nazi and Soviet goats butting heads on a narrow bridge buttressed with rifles and bayonets. The Nazi goat stands on the European side while the Soviet goat stands Asian side. The text: "Komünizm - Çekil yolumdan!.. Avrupa'ya geçecegim. Fasizm - Çekil yolumdan!.. Asya'ya geçecegim!.." [i.e. Communism: Get out of my way! I will cross over to Europe! Fascism: Get out of my way! I will cross over to Asia!].

Cemal Nadir [Güler] was a famous Turkish cartoonist. Güler is the surname he assumed after the Surname Law of 1934. Cemal Nadir was born in Bursa, Ottoman Empire on 13 July 1902. His father Sevket was a calligraphist (Turkish: Hattat) employed in courts. After finishing high school, he began working as a sign painter in Bursa. He also created cartoons, and his first cartoon appeared in Diken (literally: "The Thorn") periodical. Although he moved to Istanbul and tried to be a full-time cartoonist, he could not make it and he returned to Bursa. The Alphabet Reform of 1929 gave Cemal Nadir a second chance to show his talent. When Turkey adopted the Latin alphabet replacing the Ottoman Turkish alphabet in Arabic script, all signboards were necessarily changed, and he worked hard to meet the demand. In the same year, he moved once more to Istanbul to work for the daily Aksam. Later, he also drew for the newspaper Son Posta, as well as for the satirical magazines such as Akbaba. During this period, he published the satirical magazine Amcabey. During World war II, he drew anti-Nazism cartoons in the daily Cumhuriyet. In 1946, the Republican People's Party (CHP) invited him to run for a seat in the parliament. However, he refused the invitation, he said that with political affiliation he would not be able to create cartoons. He used his conflicting cartoon characters to criticize the social problems of that time in the country. (Ak'la Kara ("Black and White")., Dede ile Torun ("The Grandpa and the Grandson")., Dalkavuk ("The Sycophant")., Yeni Zengin ("Nouveau riche")., Salamon).