Four magazine employees Lemanincluding the caricaturist author of the drawing in question, were arrested on the six aims by arrest mandates, for having published a drawing which “openly denigrates religious values”.
Several hundred demonstrators have again conspired a Turkish satirical magazine accused of having published a drawing the prophet on Tuesday 1is July in Istanbul, which the editorial staff vigorously denies the day after the clashes that targeted it. The heart of Istanbul was completed by the police on Tuesday morning, around Taksim Square and the popular Istiklal shopping avenue, and any officially prohibited gathering.
But some 300 people gathered in and around the Taksim mosque denounced the drawing published in the opposition review Leman cries of “Leman, bastard, do not forget Charlie Hebdo”AFP journalists have noted. An explicit and threatening reference to the jihadist attacks against the French satirical weekly on January 7, 2015, which had decimated the editorial staff, killing 12 and 11 injured.
“Lack of respect”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in turn denounced a “Infamous provocation” Under the guise of humor, in a speech at midday. Evoking «A crime of clothes» He assured that “Those who are insolent towards our prophet (…) will be held responsible before the law”. “The lack of respect for our prophet by immoral individuals, devoid of the values of this nation (…) is completely unacceptable”has castigated the head of the Islamo-conservative state, in power since 2003.
At this stage, four employees of the magazine, including the caricaturist author of the drawing in question, were arrested on the six aims by arrest mandates, for having published a drawing that “Openly denigrates religious values”.
Joined by AFP, the editor -in -chief of the magazine, Tuncay Akgun, traveling abroad, denied any malicious intention. “This drawing is in no way a caricature of the prophet Muhammad”he defended, arguing that the character is a Muslim killed in Gaza in the bombings of Israel.
“Nothing to do with the Prophet”
“He was called Mohammed, it is a fiction. More than 200 million people worldwide are called Mohammed ”. “It has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad. We would never take such a risk ”A Insisté Tuncay Akgun.
Several dozen angry people tried to attack a bar in the Istiklal tourist district on Monday evening, frequented by the staff of the review. Then scuffles quickly degenerated with demonstrators who came to defend Lemancausing the intervention of the police which made use of rubber bullets and tear gas, noted AFP.
The drawing in question shows two characters in the sky, above a city crushed under the bombs: “Salam Aleykoum, I’m Mohammed”said one by shaking the other’s hand that answers: “As sada, Musa (Mïss)!”. “The designer wanted to show the oppressed Muslim people by representing a Muslim killed by Israel, he never intended to lower religious values”defended the magazine Leman on X.
In March 2002, the designers of Charlie Hebdo had visited Leman And published jointly with their Turkish colleagues a special issue. Charlie Hebdo then referred to Leman as “Our Turkish little sister”.
“The safety of caricaturists must be the main subject for the authorities,” alerts RSF
The detractors of the journal call for a protest rally on Saturday in a park adjacent to the town hall of Istanbul.
The chief of the parliamentary opposition, the president of the secular CHP Özgür Özel, hesitated before condemning the attacks against the journal. “My first reaction was: how can there be an image of the prophet”whose representation is prohibited by Islam.
“The second was: Leman is not this kind of magazine” he added, calling “The conservatives who have a conscience, the writers and the artists to look well: I see an angel who lost his life under the bombing of Gaza, with a halo and wings, who meets another angel killed by another bomb”. The Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) organization denounced these arrests on Tuesday and estimated that “The security of caricaturists must now be the main subject for the authorities”.
