Clashes and arrests in Turkey over magazine cartoon allegedly depicting prophet Muhammad
The clashes occurred after Istanbul's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of the editors at LeMan magazine on grounds it had published a cartoon that 'publicly insulted religious values'.
The magazine's editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, said the image had been misinterpreted.
'This cartoon is not a caricature of prophet Muhammad in any way,' he told Agence France-Presse. 'In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in the bombardments of Israel is fictionalised as Muhammad. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Muhammad.
'[It] has nothing to do with prophet Muhammad. We would never take such a risk.'
As the news broke, several dozen angry protesters attacked a bar often frequented by LeMan staffers in downtown Istanbul, provoking angry scuffles with police, an AFP correspondent said.
The scuffles quickly became clashes involving between 250 to 300 people, the correspondent said.
Founded in 1991, LeMan is famed for its political satire and has long been the bane of conservatives, especially following its support for France's Charlie Hebdo after its Paris offices were attacked in 2015 by Islamist gunmen who killed 12 following the magazine's publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.
The interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on that X police had arrested the cartoonist responsible for the image as well as LeMan's graphic designer.
'The person named DP who made this vile drawing has been caught and taken into custody,' he wrote, adding: 'These shameless individuals will be held accountable before the law.'
Others named in the arrest warrant were LeMan's editor-in-chief and its managing editor, media reports said.
In a string of posts on X, LeMan defended the cartoon and said it had been deliberately misinterpreted to cause a provocation.
'The cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel, he never intended to belittle religious values,' it said. 'We do not accept the stigma imposed on us because there is no depiction of our prophet. It takes a very malicious person to interpret the cartoon in this way."
'We apologise to our well-intentioned readers who we think were subjected to provocations.'
The justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, said an investigation had been opened on grounds of 'publicly insulting religious values'.
'Disrespect towards our beliefs is never acceptable,' he wrote on X. 'No freedom grants the right to make the sacred values of a belief the subject of ugly humour. The caricature or any form of visual representation of our prophet not only harms our religious values but also damages societal peace.'
Istanbul's governor, Davut Gul, also lashed out at 'this mentality that seeks to provoke society by attacking our sacred values'.
'We will not remain silent in the face of any vile act targeting our nation's faith,' he said.
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