After the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel published a controversial cartoon depicting four members of the Iranian soccer team dressed as suicide bombers one week ago, Germany has its own kind of cartoon row, as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung titles "Karikaturen-Streit nun auch in Deutschland" (= Cartoon row now also in Germany). German news magazine Der Spiegel described it as “One German Paper's Cartoonicide“. As the Editorsweblog reported earlier, Germany's Iranian embassy demanded an official written apology for the cartoon that is reflecting a current German debate over whether the army should assist with security at the FIFA World Cup this summer (cartoon see here). The Tagesspiegel expressed some regret at the reaction, but did not apologize.
Germany's Iranian embassy is demanding that an official written apology be made for a cartoon, published in Berlin paper Der Tagesspiegel, depicting four members of the Iranian soccer team dressed as suicide bombers standing next to four German soldiers. The caption printed above the cartoon read as follows: "Why the German army should definitely be used during the soccer World Cup!" The Iranian embassy has threatened legal action if such an apology is not 'forthcoming'.
