Islamist protesters clash with police and scream 'long live sharia, jihad... don't forget Charlie Hebdo' after Turkish magazine is accused of publishing cartoon of Prophet Mohammed

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

Angry protests erupted in Istanbul today following allegations a satirical magazine in Turkey had published a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
A group of some 300 protesters issued a chilling warning as they took to the streets on Tuesday, chanting 'don't forget Charlie Hebdo'.
The crowd was referring to the 2015 attack on a Paris magazine when Islamist gunmen killed 12 after it published caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.
Unrest began late on Monday after the city's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of staff at LeMan, claiming it had published a cartoon that 'insulted religious values'.
An angry mob of hardline Islamist protesters clashed with police late into the night after news of the warrant emerged, an AFP correspondent said.
'Down with secularism, long live sharia (law)! Jihad, jihad, martyrdom!' they had shouted while tussling with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
The weekly has categorically denied the allegation, with its editor-in-chief telling AFP that its cartoon had 'nothing to do with the Prophet Mohammed'.
Illustrator Dogan Pehlevan had sought to highlight 'the suffering of a Muslim man killed in Israeli attacks', the magazine said.
The cartoon, published last Thursday, shows two winged, bearded men shaking hands and introducing themselves as Mohammed and Musa (Moses).
Bullets are seen falling from the sky as a city skyline burns around them. It was flanked by cartoons satirizing poverty and marginalisation in Turkey.
The magazine apologised to readers who felt offended and said it had been misunderstood, adding that there was no intent to insult Islam or its prophet.
Erdogan and his ruling AK Party nonetheless condemned what the party called an 'Islamophobic hate crime' as officials paraded the arrests of staff.
Interpretations have varied. Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel said he was initially shocked when he first heard the allegations, but after seeing it came to a different conclusion.
'Take a proper look: I see an angel who died in a bombardment in Gaza, with a halo and wings who encounters another angel also killed by a bomb.. (but) Mohammad is a prophet, not an angel,' he said.
'I will not allow any disrespect to the Prophet Mohammed, but I won't remain silent about a social lynching based on a non-existant disrespect.'
Speaking to AFP from Paris, LeMan editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun said the image had been deliberately misinterpreted to cause provocation.
'In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in Israel's bombardments is fictionalised as Mohammed,' he said.
'This cartoon is not a caricature of Prophet Mohammed in any way,' he said, describing the arrest warrant as a "systematic provocation and attack" on the decades-old satirical magazine.
Hundreds of people nonetheless rallied against Leman in central Istanbul on Tuesday, despite a ban on gatherings and a heavy police presence.
Police shut Taksim Square and Istiklal, the city's busy shopping thoroughfare, in response.
One protester in Istanbul said the defence seemed insincere. They said: 'There is a subtle emphasis there on both the Prophet (Mohammad) and the Prophet Moses.'
Devout Muslims regard depictions of the Prophet Mohammad as blasphemous.
A correspondent for the AFP news agency said the protesters were far less aggressive than those who rallied on Monday night, when around 400 Islamist hardliners tried to storm a bar frequented by the magazine staff.
But the streets have filled with people carrying banners and shouting abuse at the magazine since authorities arrested staff and denounced what President Erdogan's ruling party called an 'Islamophobic hate crime'.
'We will not allow anyone to speak against our sacred values,' Erdogan said in televised remarks, adding that authorities would closely follow the legal process.
'Those who show disrespect to our Prophet and other prophets will be held accountable before the law,' he said.
The magazine urged authorities to counter what it called a smear campaign, and to protect freedom of expression.
Four Leman cartoonists were detained late on Monday over the drawing.
Late on Monday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya shared a video on X showing police officers detaining Pehlevan, the cartoonist, with his hands cuffed behind his back as he was dragged up a stairwell.
He also shared videos of three other men being removed from their homes and dragged into vans, one of them barefoot.
'The individual who drew this vile image, D.P., has been apprehended and taken into custody. These shameless people will be held accountable before the law,' Yerlikaya wrote.
People shout slogans during a protest against LeMan magazine outside Taksim mosque today
Several civil society groups condemned the detentions as a violation of freedom of thought and expression.
The government said an inquiry was launched under a penal code article that criminalises incitement to hatred and enmity.
Turkey's freedom of expression ranking is low due to restrictions on media and public discourse.