Salafist protest and arrests among journalists after ‘Cartoonrel’ Turkish satirical magazine

Hundreds of furious men, partly dressed in black robes, tulists and Palestinian Keffiyehs, walked on Monday evening through the busy shopping street Istiklal in Istanbul to the office of the satirical magazine Leman. On the lower floor of the office building is the Leman Kültür-Café, the design of which is inspired by the comics in the leaf. Comedyshows and concerts are held in the café annex Cultuurcentrum and are employees of Leman Also often to be found.

The demonstrators protest in response to a cartoon that appeared in the magazine last week, and on which the prophet Mohammed would be depicted. As a result, four employees of Lemanincluding the draftsman, arrested on Monday.

The protesters stopped in front of the office building, where they chanted slogans as “God is the greatest” and “long live the Sharia.” Some tried to penetrate the building, but that was thwarted by the massively present riot police. Some of the demonstrators belonged to a Salafist foundation that is affiliated with the terrorist organization fighters of the Great Islamic Eastern Front (IBDA-C). They shared X photos and videos with the text: “The flag of the Caliphate will be hung in Leman.”

The threats of the terror group, of which nothing has been heard for a long time, led to worries Lemanwho called on the Ministry of Justice and the Security Services to take action against provocateurs. The governor of Istanbul, Davut Gül, also said that there was provocative actions at Leman. “No one has the right and freedom to commit crimes, regardless of the reason.” The riot police then spread the demonstrators. Gül prohibited all meetings in the center of Istanbul.

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Arrest

The offending cartoon shows two men with white beards, wings and auroles above their heads. Among them we see a city that is shot at and is on fire. “Hello, I’m Mohammed,” says the man with an Islamic prayer hat. “Hello, I am Moses,” the man replies with a Jewish hat and pipe curls. The print led to fierce reactions in religious-conservative circles in Turkey.

Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunç announced that a criminal investigation has started against Leman. Six arrest trips have been issued against the editors and employees of the magazine. They are accused of publishing a cartoon that “openly denigrates religious values.” Four of them, including the cartoonist, were arrested on Monday, according to Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya. The others were at the time of police operation abroad.

Gaza

The editor -in -chief of LemanTuncay Akgun, who was abroad, denied against the French news agency AFP evil intentions with the print. “This cartoon is in no way a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed.” According to him, it must represent a Muslim who was killed in Gaza. “His name was Mohammed, it is fiction. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are called Mohammed. This has nothing to do with the prophet Mohammed. We would never take such a risk.”

Leman is a cultural institute in Turkey that was a model for numerous satirical and political comic magazines. It was founded in 1991 by a group of artists who had made a name for himself with previous satirical magazines. Thanks to a provocative style in the tradition of French magazines such as Charlie Hebdo Leman grew into the most popular satirical magazine of the nineties. The magazine was at the cradle of the career of Cem Yilmaz, the most popular Turkish stand-up comedian, who performed for the first time in the Leman Kültür-Café. In recent years, branches of Leman Kültür have been opened in many Turkish cities.

Leman already received criticism because of controversial cartoons, such as the failed coup in 2016 and of religious figures such as the thirteenth-century mystic Rumi. But it is the first time that the authorities intervene so hard.

According to critics, the involvement of the IBDA-C also indicates that the riot was orchestrated. Because the IBDA-C would have the tacit support of Erdogan. He would use the group against secular demonstrators who took to the streets in recent months against the arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of Istanbul.

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