The publication of a cartoon allegedly depicting the Prophet Muhammad has sparked strong reactions in Turkey. An angry crowd gathered outside the offices of Leman magazine in Istanbul, while late last night it was announced that the cartoon's creator, the publisher's director and the editor-in-chief had been arrested, while warrants are pending against three other people. The magazine itself denies that the cartoon is about the Prophet Muhammad.
The issue of the satirical magazine published on June 26 features a cartoon showing Muhammad and Moses exchanging greetings over a Middle Eastern city being bombed.
Although the magazine's issue was released on June 26, the issue gained momentum yesterday, Monday, June 30, on social networking sites.
Hundreds of people gathered in the evening outside Leman's offices in the Pera area, where they prayed, shouted slogans and some attacked the magazine's premises.
The Turkish authorities, in addition to arresting the six people responsible for the magazine, ordered the withdrawal of the issue and initiated procedures to ban online access to the controversial cartoon.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc announced that a prosecutor's investigation has been ordered into the magazine on charges of "insulting religious values."
His statement: "The Istanbul Prosecutor's Office has launched a judicial investigation into the offense of 'public insult to religious values' under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code, regarding the publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in a satirical magazine. No freedom gives the right to satirize the sacred places of a religion. Ridiculing our prophet or any attempt to visually represent him harms not only our religious values, but also social peace. The necessary legal measures will be taken without delay against this provocative act that disregards the beliefs of millions of Muslims."
For his part, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said: "I strongly condemn the indecent caricature of our prophet. What happened is not freedom of the press. What happened is not freedom of expression. Such actions that offend our religious values and cause deep wounds in the conscience of Muslims are provocative in nature and those who dare to commit them will be held accountable before Justice."
The magazine itself denies that it published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad and in a statement notes: "The most widespread name in the world and the name with the largest population is Muhammad, Mehmet, Mamadou (all these names are given by Muslims to keep the name of our prophet alive). Today, there are 200 million people who bear the name Muhammad. The creator of the cartoon wanted to emphasize the justice of the oppressed Muslim people, referring to a Muslim killed by Israel, and had no intention of belittling religious values. We do not accept the stigma attributed to us, as there is no depiction of our prophet. To interpret the cartoon in this way, one must have very bad intentions. There are so many Mehmets and Muhammads that you know."
The statement also states that Leman magazine has repeatedly brought the Palestinian issue to the forefront with five special issues and hundreds of covers. “We declare that you have no right to question our conscience and beliefs in a wrong and distorted way,” the statement notes.
Source: protothema.gr
