You were born in Skopje, Macedonia and you graduated from the graphic program of Marmara University, one of the important art schools in İstanbul. How do you evaluate the art education in Turkey?

In education the field of study is as significant as the education itself. The art oriented activities have been increasing compared to yesterday. Biennials, film festivals, art fairs are being held in İstanbul as well. The Pera museum, Sabancı Museum and İstanbul Modern are doing significant things in the name of art with their quality organizations of special exhibitions, interviews and panels. Here is why I am mentioning all these; Art gains its full meaning when it embraces our life and when we need it for that matter. It is important that art is produced, but it also has to be consumed (meeting with the audience and creating new ones). The dynamics of producers and consumers is the motor of art. Otherwise, education facilities are just over-structural. I think that their being qualified does not mean that much. The last thing I want to mention is this: In Turkey along with the improvement in arts, social and cultural spheres are also in a healthy circulation.

You started to draw political caricatures for Güneş Newspaper’s “Rear Window�? section in 1982. Today, the drawings of Ercan Akyol continue to reach the reader from the same window in Milliyet newspaper. What are the secrets to create a daily caricature section and to keep it going with the same quality for 25 years?

First of all, thank you for the qualitative comment that you have made on my caricatures. I hope they are as good. It is not right for me to say anything on this matter. But I can say that I have always been intimate and honest in what I did. I drew in the direction that I believed in. The raison d’être of editorial caricature is opposition. It derives power from being right and true. It is right because it is on the side of rights. It is on the side of the truth against the lies. It is with the exploited against the exploiters. It favors peace over war. If the artist is honest with his opposition, he reaches humor from the tragic reality of events. He has to be informed on his subject in order to be more creative. Only then does his work complete its mission, it deciphers the situation. Not every caricature with politicians is political unless the fundamental idea is criticism. The caricatures focusing on exaggerated jokes instead of the theme are performing fake opposition. We can even say that these kinds of caricatures make the problem familiar and help us getting used to living with it.

Melih Aşık says, “Daily caricature is the butterfly of art which is bound to die the following day." In your books, you have been immortalizing these cute butterflies that are born out of your intimate work. Can you tell us about your forth book which found place in the shelves a short time ago?

My last book “I Draw 2005" came out from Çınar Books. I am turning the sketches that I created in Milliyet for a year into a book since 2003. Naturally, this period coincides with AKP in power. I mean the period in which Turkey has been dragged into a chaos between the USA, EU and IMF. My book consists of caricatures which demonstrate this period. Caricaturists are the witnesses of their times. When these are turned into a book, it is a good document for the future in the sense that it witnesses time.

We sometimes see that caricatures can be much more effective than headlines in huge fonts and pages full of comments. This is especially apparent in political drawings and often brings the artists against the politicians. One of the serious examples that we witnessed lately is the prime minister suing a magazine for depicting him as a “cat" figure. How do you comment on this?

Caricature is the art of metaphors. The person who is the subject turns abstract, into a whole new person. So, he is the figure of a fictitious world. When you look at it this way, the absurdness of being mad at a drawing becomes clearer. Caricature is irrational. This is why the person who gets mad at caricatures has no difference from one who gets mad at his own shadow. When it comes to the people who are in power now; as the narrow mindedness of these people increase, their tolerance to humor decreases. The rage of the prime minister must be an indicator of this.

You draw for one of the most popular newspapers. It seems inevitable that sometimes your work can be interfered with or censored. Do you experience such incidents? If so, what should be done to change this situation in your opinion?

I would like to revise the “censorship seems inevitable" statement in your question because it is a little over the top. We should be saying that “censorship is not inevitable." What should be avoided is the censorship itself. Unfortunately most of the media today is under the influence of the party in power. The opposition that this media seems to be exercising from time to time is phony. The basic problem is that the press cannot execute its task of opposition. In a media incapable of opposition, it is natural that the independence of writers to oppose is limited. Of course this is not a desirable thing for the writers. So what? It is the same in the world. It is not a unique feature of our press. A few months ago, I was talking to the famous American drawer Steve Brodner who came to Turkey to attend the jury of “Aydın Doğan Caricature Contest". He was surprised when I told him that I did my job without the pre-control mechanisms from my editors. He made it clear that he envied this when he put his hands around my neck, pretending to choke me. Then I told him not to be jealous now that some of my caricatures have been eliminated lately. I relieved him by saying that we will soon be audited like our American colleagues.

The world is going through tough times. The crisis in the Middle East is getting out of hand everyday, new maps for the region are drawn, civilians are dead, the tragedy in Africa prevails... With all these examples, we can see that the world is preparing for a dark and an unhappy future. What kind of a future do you envision for your country and for humankind?

Your question has its answer inside. It is enough to take a look at the Middle East not to be optimistic. The latest developments there are the results of the application of the Great Middle East Project by imperialist powers. The aim is to own the energy sources, divide and rule later on. More than a thousand people died when Israel only attacked Beirut. Moreover one third of them are kids, this is horrifying. What is more horrifying is that the world does not show any reaction to this horror. Where is Europe - the representative of the contemporary modernism? Where is the United Nations? The picture is that of the failure of humanity… After seeing these incidents in the world arena, it is kind of hard to think positively of the future of humanity. But whatever circumstances that we are in, “hope" is the possibility that tomorrow can be better than today. The aim of the comedian is to transfer hope into the future anyway.

The Polish novelist Joseph Conrad defines caricature as “placing the face of humor over the body of seriousness". How do you define your art? What is caricature in your opinion?

I like enlarged definitions more because they do not set boundaries. In this sense, I think it is enough to say that caricature is humor but with lines. We shall conclude the issue by saying “caricature is a small art that brings huge responsibilities" as Ronald Searle mentioned.

According to 17th century sources, caricature’s definition as an independent art form derives from Annibale Carracci, the Bolognese drawer. As an artist who won prizes from various caricature contests all around Europe, what kind of a picture do you see when you compare the European perspective to caricature with the one in your country?

In fact our caricatures are closer to the West rather than the East. What we understand when we say Europe is crucial in evaluating “the perspective of the Europeans". Caricature in Europe does not reflect a homogeneous structure. It is different in the North, in continental Europe and in the Balkans. I think that Turkish caricature with its diversities is very European.

The American caricaturist Herbert Lawrence Block a.k.a. Herblock once said; “It gets harder and harder to find these drawing pencils. If something is really good, they destruct it sooner or later." Today, we witness the show of digital technology in every area from painting to illustration, and to caricature to photography. The artists who prefer to work traditionally, the ones who paint with brush and paint or take pictures analogously are opposed to computer supported drawing tablets and digital photography. How do you see the future of this change? Do you take advantage of technology when you color your drawings?

The touch of the artist to his tools, the feeling of the canvas with his fingers, the smell and the intensity of the paint are also contributing to the creativity as well as they make the artist feel good. The feeling of the ingredients is a motivation for the artist… In spite of all these, it seems irrational to ignore the endless opportunities that technological development brings. The computer technology is so improved that it is possible to use the effects of paper, canvas, brush, pastel, taste of paint and you can do it by using numerous methods on the computer. The computer has limitless possibilities. As you can see we are doing this interview on computer as well.

The basic feature of the traditional method is that you have the original in your hands. The work that is done on computer is virtual in a sense. But this should not mean that we better avoid computers. The hand made work will always have its value and the work done on computer will carry on increasing its effect on our lives. I think this matter stopped to be argumentative when something called “the video art" has entered the disciplines. Yes. I try to take advantage of the technology as I learn; I color my caricatures with the help of Photoshop.

In which era of art history, and with whom would you want to share the same table or studio? Can you talk about the names that influence you?

It is a good dream to be able to work with Leonardo, Michelangelo and Rafael from Renaissance Florence. In caricature I appreciate come names and I am affected by others: Saul Steinberk, Tomy Ungerer, Ronald Searle, Sempe, Bosc, Pat Oliphant, Ralp Steadman, Horst Haitzinger. In graphics: Milton Glaser, Horst Jassen, Aubrey Beardsley, Andrea François and Franoiszek Stearowieyski.