Erdogan slams cartoon as ‘vile provocation', Turkish magazine denies Prophet Mohammed depiction

France 24

a day ago

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned as a "vile provocation" a cartoon published in a satirical magazine that appeared to depict Islamic and Jewish prophets, saying authorities would closely follow the legal process.
"We will not allow anyone to speak against our sacred values, no matter what," Erdogan said in televised remarks.
"Those who show disrespect to our Prophet and other prophets will be held accountable before the law," he added.
Erdogan said the authorities had seized all copies of the offending issue and were taking legal action against the publication.
The Turkish president's comments amplified a wave of official condemnations a day after four cartoonists at the LeMan magazine were detained over the drawing.
A copy of the black-and-white image posted on social media showed two characters hovering in the skies over a city under bombardment.
"Salam aleikum, I'm Mohammed," says one shaking hands with the other who replies, "Aleikum salam, I'm Musa."
The cartoon, published a few days after the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, has been interpreted as showing Mohammed, who Muslims believe is the final prophet, and Moses, one of Judaism 's most important prophets, shaking hands in the sky over a wartime scene.
It was also criticised by religious conservatives, even as the magazine apologised to readers who felt offended and said it had been misunderstood.
But the magazine's editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun told AFP by phone from Paris that the image had been misinterpreted and was "not a caricature of Prophet Mohammed".
"In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in the bombardments of Israel is fictionalised as Mohammed. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Mohammed," he said.
The cartoon had "nothing to do with Prophet Mohammed," said Akgun, adding, "We would never take such a risk."
Protest erupts in Istanbul
More than 200 people arrived to protest against LeMan in central Istanbul on Tuesday, despite a ban on gatherings and heavy police presence.
Turkey's ruling AKP party also condemned the cartoon earlier Tuesday. "This has nothing to do with art, ideas, freedom of expression, or artistic freedom," said AKP spokesman Omer Celik.
"In our view, this is a hate crime — an act of hostility directly targeting Islam, Prophet Moses, and our Prophet."
Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted AKP regularly criticise what they call Islamophobic acts in secular Turkey and across Europe. Muslims see depictions of the Prophet Mohammed as blasphemous.
In a statement on X, LeMan said "the work does not refer to the Prophet Mohammed in any way".
The cartoonist, Dogan Pehlevan, had sought to highlight "the suffering of a Muslim man killed in Israeli attacks", it said, adding there was no intent to insult Islam or its prophet.
The magazine urged authorities to counter what it called a smear campaign, and to protect freedom of expression.
Several civil society groups condemned the detentions, calling them a violation of freedom of thought and expression.
Turkey's freedom of expression ranking is low due to restrictions on media and public discourse. Reporters Without Borders ranked it 158th out of 180 countries in its 2024 Press Freedom Index.
Late on Monday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya shared a video on X showing police officers detaining Pehlevan 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.