Clashes erupted in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, in which police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a crowd after accusations that a satirical magazine published a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, AFP reports, writes UNN.
Details
The clashes occurred after Istanbul's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of LeMan magazine editors on the grounds of publishing a cartoon that "publicly insulted religious values."
"The Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into the publication of a caricature in the June 26, 2025 issue of LeMan magazine, which publicly insults religious values, and arrest warrants have been issued for those involved," the prosecutor's office said.
A copy of the black-and-white image, posted on social media, shows two characters hovering in the sky over a bombed city. "Salam alaikum, I am Muhammad," says one, shaking hands with the other, who replies: "Alaikum salam, I am Musa."
But the magazine's editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgün, said the image was misinterpreted and "is not a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad."
"In this work, the name of a Muslim who died during the Israeli bombings is invented as Muhammad. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world bear the name Muhammad," he said, stating that it "has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad."
"We would never take such a risk," he added.
As the news spread, several dozen angry protesters attacked a bar frequently visited by LeMan employees in central Istanbul, sparking angry clashes with police, the publication writes.
The clashes, as indicated, quickly escalated into clashes involving 250 to 300 people.
In several posts on X, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said police arrested the cartoonist responsible for "this vile drawing," the magazine's editor-in-chief, and its graphic designer.
Police also took control of the magazine's offices, and arrest warrants were issued for several other magazine executives, presidential spokesman Fahrettin Altın wrote on X.
The country's Justice Minister, Yılmaz Tunç, launched an investigation on the grounds of "publicly insulting religious values." "Disrespect for our beliefs is never acceptable," he wrote on X.
In a series of posts on X, LeMan defended the cartoon and said it was deliberately twisted to cause provocation.
Akgün said the authorities' actions against the magazine, a satirical bastion of the opposition founded in 1991, were "incredibly shocking, but not very surprising."
"This is an act of destruction. Ministers are involved in this whole matter, the cartoon is distorted," he said.
"The similarities with Charlie Hebdo are very deliberate and very disturbing," he said of the French satirical magazine, whose offices were stormed by Islamist gunmen in 2015. At that time, the attack, which killed 12 people, occurred after the publication of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
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