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

History and profile

''Gırgır'' was founded in 1972 by the brothers

Oğuz Aral Oğuz Aral (1936 – 26 July 2004) was a Turkish political cartoonist and comics artist, known for his satirical style. He was also active as a theatre designer, playwright, ceramist and animator, establishing the first Turkish animation stud ...

(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 Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

, which was deemed by the military authorities to be insulting Turkish

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". 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, Suat Gönülay, Gürcan Özkan, Cevat Özer, Atilla Atalay,

Latif Demirci Al-Latif (''Al-Laṭīf'' , also anglicized as ''Al-Lateef'') is one of the names of God in Islam Names of God in Islam () are 99 names that each contain Attributes of God in Islam, which are implied by the respective names. These names usu ...

, Sarkis Paçacı, Hasan Kaçan, Bülent Morgök,

Galip Tekin Galip Tekin (20 April 1958 – 6 July 2017) was a Turkish comic book artist, cartoonist and screenwriter. He was known for his works in the Fantasy comics, fantasy and Science fiction comics, science fiction genres. His style is often compared to ...

Mehmet Çağçağ Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...

Metin Üstündağ Metin is a Turkish given name and a surname that means solid and durable; derived from the Arabic word "metîn" (متين). It is one of the 99 names of Allah. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Tümer Metin Tümer Metin (born 14 ...

Meral Onat Meral is a common Turkish given name that means female deer. It is Turkish variant of Maral. In Altai, Turkish, Mongolian, Armenian and Persian " Maral" means "female deer". It is also used as a surname. People Given name * Meral Akşener (born ...

Can Barslan Can may refer to: Language * A verb for ability * A verb for probability Containers * A container used for food preservation in canning ** Aluminum can ** Drink can ** Steel and tin cans * Trash can * Oil can * Petrol can Music * Can (ba ...

Uğur Durak Uğur is a common masculine Turkish and Azerbaijani given name. In both Turkish and Azerbaijani, the word "uğur" means "luck". Given name * Uğur Albayrak (born 1988), Turkish footballer * Uğur Boral (born 1982), Turkish footballer * Uğu ...

, Behiç Pek,

Cihan Demirci Cihan may refer to: Name Given name * Cihan Alptekin (1947–1972), Turkish revolutionary and militant * Cihan Can, Turkish footballer * Cihan Haspolatlı, Turkish footballer * Cihan Kaptan, Turkish footballer * Cihan Özkara, Turkish-German foo ...

, 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, 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