Clashes and arrests in Turkey over magazine cartoon allegedly depicting prophet Muhammad | Turkey
Following the allegations that a Special magazine published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on Monday, the police’s rubber bullets and tear gas fired and clashes exploded in Istanbul.
The clashes occurred after he ordered the arrest of editors in Leman Magazine, the Chief Public Prosecutor of Istanbul on the grounds that he had published a cartoon that “insults public religious values”.
Tuncay Akgun, the editor -in -chief of the magazine, said that the image was misinterpreted.
Ang This cartoon is not the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in any way, ”Agent France-Presse said. “In this study, the name of a Muslim who was killed in Israel’s bombardments is fictionalized as Muhammad. In the Islamic world, more than 200 million people are called Muhammad.
“[It] It has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad. We will never take such a risk. “
An AFP correspondent, while the news was broken, a few dozen angry protesters in Istanbul city center Leman employees often attacked a bar attacking and an AFP reporter, he said.
The reporter said that the friction has quickly become conflicts with 250 to 300 people.
Founded in 1991, Leman is famous for its political satir, and especially the Paris offices were attacked by the Islamist armed men who killed the magazine in 2015 after published the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2015, and after the support of France to Charlie Hebdo for a long time after being attacked in 2015.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said X police arrested the caricaturian responsible for the image and Leman’s graphic designer.
“The person named DP, who made this inferiority, was arrested and detained,” he added: “These shameless individuals will be held responsible before the law.”
According to the media reports, others said that Leman was the editor -in -chief and executive editor.
In a series of posts in X, Leman defended the cartoon and said he was deliberately misinterpreted to cause a provocation.
“The cartoonist wanted to describe the accuracy of the oppressed Muslim people by describing a Muslim who was killed by Israel, and never underestimated religious values,” he said. “We do not accept the imposed stamp on us because there is no depiction of our Prophet. A very malicious person is needed to interpret the cartoon in this way.”
“We apologize to our well -intentioned readers who we think are exposed to provocations.”
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said that an investigation was opened on the grounds of ür religious values insulting the public ”.
“Disrespect our beliefs is never accepted,” he wrote X. “No freedom gives the right to make the sacred values of a belief with the right to make ugly humor.
Davut Gül, the governor of Istanbul, also hit this mentality that aims to provoke society by attacking our sacred values ”.
“We will not remain silent in the face of any actions aimed at the belief of our country,” he said.
