'Remember Charlie Hebdo!' Protesters seethe at Istanbul magazine

By AFP/Hazel WARD

Angry protesters rallied in Istanbul on Tuesday despite a heavy police presence, shouting threats following allegations a satirical magazine published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Unrest began late Monday after Istanbul's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of staff at LeMan weekly saying it had published a cartoon that "publicly insulted religious values".

LeMan categorically denied the allegation, with its editor-in-chief telling AFP the image had "nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad".

But news of the warrant brought an angry mob of hardline Islamist protesters onto the streets, who clashed with police late into the night, an AFP correspondent said.

A group called Islamic Solidarity Platform called another protest Tuesday, prompting police to shut Taksim Square and Istiklal, the city's busy shopping thoroughfare.

The group of around 300 protesters shouted abuse at the magazine and chanted "don't forget Charlie Hebdo", referring to the 2015 attack on a Paris magazine when Islamist gunmen killed 12 people after it published caricatures lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.

According to the correspondent, 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.

"Down with secularism, long live sharia (law)! Jihad, jihad, martyrdom!" they shouted while clashing with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

'No justification for violence'

Publication of the image drew sharp condemnation from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who denounced it as a "hate crime".

"It is a clear provocation disguised as humour, a vile provocation," he railed, saying the authorities had confiscated all existing copies of the offending issue.

"Those who are insolent towards our Prophet and other prophets will be held accountable before the law."

Monday's violence drew sharp condemnation from Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey representative of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"There is no justification for such violence, which we strongly condemn," he told AFP, saying it was "hard to understand" why police did not intervene sooner and that the "cartoonists' safety must take priority".

Overnight, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted images of the cartoonist, LeMan's graphic designer, its publisher and another staff member being roughly dragged away under arrest, prompting a rebuke from Turkish rights group MLSA.

"Detaining cartoonists and subjecting them to mistreatment under the accusation of ‘insulting religious values’ over a cartoon is unlawful," its co-director Veysel Ok wrote on X.

"Even if a non-violent image or statement disturbs, offends, or provokes a large part of society, it is still protected by freedom of expression."

Copies of the disputed cartoon posted online show two characters hovering in the skies over a city being bombed.

"Salam aleikum, I'm Muhammad," says one shaking hands with the other who replies, "Aleikum salam, I'm Musa."

'Social lynching'

Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel said he was shocked when he first heard the allegations but after looking at the image, said he quickly realised they were not true.

"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) Muhammad is a prophet, not an angel," he said.

"I will not allow any disrespect to the Prophet Muhammad, but I won't remain silent about a social lynching based on a non-existent 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 Muhammad," he said.

"This cartoon is not a caricature of Prophet Muhammad in any way," he said, describing the arrest warrant as a "systematic provocation and attack" on the decades-old satirical magazine.