TURKISH P.M. STIFLES FREE EXPRESSION, SAY PROTESTORS

With the opening of its first modern and contemporary art museum in Istanbul last December, Turkey initiated an effort to bolster its image as a culturally progressive nation—an effort that is a key part of the country’s bid for membership in the European Union. But on Wednesday, Turkey’s best-known cartoonists gathered in Istanbul to protest legal action taken by the prime minister against artists who have criticized him, Amberin Zaman reports in the Baltimore Sun. Members of the Turkish Cartoonists Association accuse Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trying to stifle free expression.