Let's just say they don't have a little thing called "free speech" in Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government is seeking to throw a Turkish citizen in jail for two years for posting a meme of the President next to the character Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings."

And if that's not ridiculous enough... a court in Turkey is actually "looking into" whether it's an insult to compare the president to the character from the beloved novel.

I guess they never read Tolkien.

The funny thing about all of this: the fictional character Gollum is more complex and compassionate than Erdogan. The person in question, a medical doctor, has already been fired for his job by the government.

The BBC reports that 105 people have been charged in Turkey between August 2014 and March 2015 for “insulting the head of state.” The country’s press freedom ranks 149th out of 180 nations.

Add Turkey to the list of places I'm never visiting.

More From