Renowned Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart says he has spent as much time in prison and courthouses as he has at work since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power. 

His latest stint in jail started in April, after an appeal court upheld his sentence of three years and nine months for "helping terrorist organizations."

Released last week pending another appeal, Kart told AFP, "for 15 years, prisons and courthouses have become a second home to me."

Kart, who was recognized last year by the Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace, was among 14 journalists and staff from the opposition paper Cumhuriyet convicted in the case.

He was initially arrested in 2016 after Erdogan launched a major crackdown on opponents in the wake of a failed coup. 

Unfailingly optimistic and modest, Kart refuses to be run down by his ordeals, and says he always made an effort to look his best for prison visitors. 

AFP