Türkiye: Controversial cartoon leads to arrest of author and editor, clashes in Istanbul
The publication of a press cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad, according to Turkish authorities, led to the arrest of its author and clashes in Istanbul between police and an angry crowd seeking to attack employees of the magazine in question.
The Istanbul Attorney General's Office announced on Monday, June 30, that it had "launched an investigation into the publication of a cartoon in the June 26, 2025 issue of Leman magazine that openly denigrates religious values, and arrest warrants have been issued for those involved."
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that police had arrested the cartoonist after posting images of his arrest in a stairwell on X-rated social media. The magazine's editor-in-chief and a graphic designer were also arrested, he said.
"The person named DP who made this despicable drawing has been caught and taken into custody ," he wrote. "These shameless individuals will have to answer for their actions before the courts."
Police raided Leman 's offices on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul and arrest warrants were issued for several other people responsible for the publication, presidential adviser Fahrettin Altun wrote on X.
"It has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad."In the evening, angry protesters attacked a bar often frequented by the magazine's employees in central Istanbul. Clashes with police quickly escalated into clashes involving between 250 and 300 people, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent. Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas to disperse the angry crowd.
A copy of the black-and-white image posted on social media shows two figures in the sky above a bombed city. "Salam aleykoum, I am Mohammed," one says, shaking the hand of the other, who replies: "Aleykoum salam, I am Musa [Moses]. " The magazine's editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, told AFP that the image had been misinterpreted.
"This drawing is in no way a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad . In this work, it is the name of a Muslim who was killed in the Israeli bombings, he was called Mohammed, it is a fiction. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are called Mohammed," he said. "This has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad. We would never take such a risk," he added.
Regarding X, Leman felt that he had been deliberately misinterpreted. "The cartoonist wanted to show the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel; he never intended to demean religious values," he said.
"We do not accept the opprobrium imposed on us because there is no representation of our Prophet. One must be very malicious to interpret the caricature in this way ," he continued. "We apologize to our well-intentioned readers who, we believe, were victims of provocation."
A satirical bastion of the opposition"Disrespect for our beliefs is never acceptable ," Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc wrote on X. "Caricature or any other form of visual representation of our Prophet not only undermines our religious values, but also social peace."
Istanbul Governor Davut Gul also denounced "this mentality that seeks to provoke society by attacking our sacred values." "We will not remain silent in the face of any despicable act targeting our nation's faith," he warned.
According to Tuncay Akgun, the legal offensive against the magazine, a satirical bastion of the opposition launched in 1991, is "incredibly shocking, but not very surprising . " "It is an act of annihilation," he denounced.
Founded in 1991, Leman has long been a target of conservatives, particularly following its support for the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in France following the jihadist attack on its Paris offices in 2015, which left twelve dead. The attack came after Charlie Hebdo repeatedly published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The World with AFP
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