One of Germany’s leading satirists could face jail for insulting the Turkish president after Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to a request from Ankara to open a criminal investigation into the case.
Two weeks ago Jan Böhmermann read out, on his TV show, a poem suggesting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among other things, had kebab breath and enjoyed sex with goats.
The satirist chose the deliberately crude lines, which he dubbed Smear Poem, to mock the Turkish leader's thin skin at previous swipes by German satirists.
Mr Böhmermann was also highlighting German limits on free speech due to a century-old law that forbids insults of a foreign head of state. Mr Böhmermann’s satire, and Ankara’s response, created a dilemma for Dr Merkel, who was torn between the need to defend free speech while not alienating Turkey as it co-operates with the EU on a refugee swap deal.
The sensitive point for Dr Merkel is that the criminal investigation requested by Ankara, under paragraph 103 of the Criminal Code, can only take place if the federal government grants permission.
After days of rows in her government – and differences of opinion with her junior coalition partner – Dr Merkel said her government would grant the request for an investigation.
That would give the legal system “the last word” and her government would then abolish by 2018 a law she said was “superfluous in the future”.
“It is not the job of a government but of state prosecutors and laws to weigh up the personal rights of those affected . . . against the freedom of the press and of art,” said Dr Merkel.
