In the midst of corruption allegations about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his son Bilal along with other members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), a cartoon that appeared in the prestigious Greek daily Kathimerini has been widely shared on social media. Cartoonist Ilias Makris drew Erdoğan carrying a sack of money while stepping on Muslims prostrating during prayer.

Commenting to Sunday's Zaman, Makris said that as a religious politician whose politics is based on faith, Erdoğan seems to “step on his beliefs.” Stating that people in Greece are also paying attention to the corruption issue in Turkey, Makris says that Greece has its share of the same problem. According to Makris, he tried to look at the corruption problem in Turkey from a distance and is surprised that his cartoon has been shared so much, especially on Twitter.

Popular Turkish satirical news portal Zaytung has been experiencing its golden age since Dec. 17, which marked the beginning of the corruption probe in the country. The often brave and humorous content of Zaytung has been extensively circulated on social media.

Talking to Sunday's Zaman, Hakan Bilginer, founder and editor-in-chief of the satirical news portal, says both the content and the traffic on the website have been on the rise.

"There has been a 50 percent increase in the number of our monthly visitors," says Bilginer, while noting that in terms of content there is focus on the subject of corruption and bribery coming from registered users.

The website filters content coming from over 100,000 registered users. On a regular day, Zaytung received around 200 posts, but since Dec. 17, this number has doubled.

Although there has been a boom in humor as a result of the wide range of corruption allegations against a network of politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats, people seem to be cautious about sharing personal information when making jokes or comments.

A comedian and a scriptwriter who wants to remain anonymous due to the “delicate” agenda of the country says that many people who come from the same ideological background as the government are refraining from making fun of the corruption due to a sense of disappointment and being cheated. “People do not say much with the initial shock of the wiretappings, but humor will come from this in the days to come," he comments. However, he also believes that in itself the humor in the scandals is self-evident.

The unease and even fear among people are visible, according to Zaytung's editor-in-chief. The majority of the users write with nicknames on this popular website. However, Bilginer says that he has recently observed more caution when it comes to remaining anonymous. “More and more people prefer to remain completely anonymous with the fear of facing prosecution or 'something bad' in general."

Despite the increasing pressure on the media, humor serves as a way out for many ordinary citizens who suffer from a sense of disillusionment with the government. When Prime Minister Erdoğan argued that the wiretapping in which he allegedly tells his son Bilal to hide massive sums of cash is a “montage” and doctored to hurt his reputation, funny “reports of montage” in handwriting dominated the Internet in protest of Erdoğan's defense without any reliable forensic evidence. The number of fake scientific documents that included a high degree of humor also increased after misleading reports appeared in the government-controlled media in an effort to support Erdoğan's claim.

The same comedian talks about the importance of changing the existing mentality on the perception of corruption. “The mentality that legitimizes corrupt politicians because they also serve the nation should be challenged by humor,” this comedian notes. “Sometimes humor lags behind the reality because the reality is shocking enough,” he says in an additional comment. “The phone conversations of corruption could not get any funnier,” he believes.