Turkey detains 4 over cartoon allegedly depicting Abrahamic prophets
The cartoon, published last week, triggered a backlash from government officials and religious groups in Turkiye. On Tuesday, the Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office announced a formal investigation under charges of 'openly insulting religious values'.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the magazine, describing it as 'a vile provocation'.
'It is a clear provocation disguised as humour, a vile provocation,' he said, also denouncing it as a 'hate crime', confirming authorities had taken over LeMan magazine and were taking legal action against it.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted a video on X showing the arrest of cartoonist Dogan Pehlevan on Monday.
'I strongly condemn the shameless caricaturing of our Prophet,' Yerlikaya said. 'This is not press freedom. This is not freedom of expression. These provocative acts, which insult our sacred values and deeply hurt Muslim consciences, will not go unpunished.'
He added that a total of six detention orders had been issued. Two people who were overseas have yet to be arrested.
Yerlikaya also said the magazine's graphic designer and two other senior staffers were detained, along with the cartoonist.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the investigation is proceeding under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalises 'incitement to hatred and enmity'.
In a statement posted on X, LeMan apologised to readers who were offended but insisted the cartoon had been misinterpreted. The magazine said Pehlevan aimed to highlight 'the suffering of a Muslim man killed in Israeli attacks' and denied any attempt to mock Islam.
'The name Muhammad is among the most common in the Muslim world in honour of the Prophet. The cartoon does not portray him, nor was it intended to disrespect religious beliefs,' the magazine said, accusing critics of wilfully distorting its message.
LeMan urged authorities to investigate what it described as a targeted smear campaign and called for stronger protection of press freedom.
Later in the evening, videos surfaced online of crowds of protesters marching to LeMan's office in Istanbul, kicking the building's doors and chanting slogans.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
L'Orient-Le Jour
5 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Hamas attack of unprecedented scale against Israeli troops
The Israeli military said it killed 10 Hamas militants in Gaza on Wednesday while repelling an attack by the armed wing of the group, which claimed it killed several Israeli soldiers. Israeli media reported that such an attack on troops inside the Gaza Strip was highly unusual since the start of the war, which began in October 2023. "Today, at around 9 a.m., over 15 terrorists emerged out of several tunnel shafts adjacent to the 90th battalion post in southern Khan Yunis," the Israeli military said in a statement. The militants "carried out a combined gunfire and anti-tank missile attack towards the post, with several terrorists infiltrating it and getting eliminated in face-to-face combat and aerial support strikes," it added. "The troops, in coordination with the [Israeli air force], eliminated 10 terrorists during face-to-face combat and airstrikes," it said, adding that eight other militants fled back into the tunnel. The military said that one soldier was severely injured and two others lightly injured in the assault, while Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that its fighters "this morning (...) carried out a raid on a newly established enemy position southeast of Khan Yunis." "Our fighters stormed the site and targeted several guard tanks... our fighters also targeted several houses in which [Israeli] soldiers were fortified," it added. "A number of our fighters stormed the houses and finished off several soldiers inside from point-blank range with light weapons and hand grenades," it said, claiming to have also killed a tank commander. "As soon as the rescue forces arrived, one of the Qassam fighters detonated himself among the soldiers, leaving them dead and wounded," the statement added. It did not mention any casualties amongst its fighters.
Ya Libnan
6 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Israelis are fleeing. Have given up on Natanyahu's war on Gaza, Analysis
Israel calls up 60,000 reservists ahead of planned Gaza City offensive An Israeli military official said five divisions would be involved in the planned offensive in Gaza Israel has seen emigration double since the attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. While some are choosing to leave for security reasons, among those choosing exile are peace activists weary of war and feeling increasingly isolated amid their country's illiberal drift. Working towards peace in the Middle East is why left-wing activist Mordechai, 42, chose to remain in Israel . Then came October 7, 2023, and the war in Gaza. 'We've given up on Israel,' he says. 'We've given up on turning the government into something that can create peace in the Middle East.' In the aftermath of the October 7 attacks , 'I saw that there is very little left wing left in Israel,' he says. 'I just realized that … we're not doing the right thing. We're not on the right path. And my children are going to be on the same path as I am.' But he soon experienced a shift that put him on another. 'At some point, this responsibility [I felt] towards the region kind of turned into responsibility towards my kids,' he explains. 'I have two boys, and I don't want their head filled with the stuff that I have in my head … people dying and people [as] hostages and people suffering.' Mordechai now lives with his wife and two sons, ages 9 and 10, in Greece, one of the top destinations for emigrating Israelis, with tens of thousands of them making a home there. Record numbers of Israelis have been leaving since the October 7 attacks – even doubling, by some estimates – leading to fears of a ' brain drain '. While some are emigrating for security reasons , others are increasingly disillusioned with Israel's shift to the political right and the punishing war in Gaza. 'Taboo' of Israeli emigration In total, 82,700 Israelis left the country in 2024, according to government figures , a number that exceeded the roughly 55,280 arrivals that same year, leaving Israel with a rare negative net migration rate. Frédérique Schillo, an Israel specialist and co-author of 'Sous tes pierres, Jérusalem' ( Beneath the Stones of Jerusalem ), calls it a 'phenomenon of unprecedented magnitude'. 'For a long time, the departure of Israelis was not studied, the authorities were reluctant to talk about it: the idea of Israel, a supposed refuge for Jews from all over the world, letting its children leave was absolutely taboo,' the Jerusalem-based historian explains. During his first term in the 1970s, former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin roundly mocked Israelis leaving the country, 'referring to 'wimps' and the 'fall of the weak'', Schillo notes. In a nation built on migration, the idea of leaving is particularly contentious. In Hebrew, to settle in Israel is referred to as 'aliyah' or 'ascension'. Conversely, to leave is 'yerida', meaning 'descent'. 'There is this idea that to leave is to fall,' Schillo says. And this feeling remains deep-seated in Israeli society. To emigrate on political grounds is also a luxury, she points out. Only Israelis of a certain socioeconomic level – or those with origins that entitle them to a foreign passport – are able to expatriate. 'I no longer felt safe' in Israel While October 7 may have prompted record numbers to consider emigration, many began looking to leave several years earlier, Schillo says, citing 'the unease of Israeli intellectuals' with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . In early 2023, Netanyahu's government launched a controversial judicial reform aimed at weakening the powers of the Supreme Court, the centerpiece of Israeli checks and balances. Mass demonstrations erupted across the country, gathering tens of thousands people for weekly protests over several months. Among them were Mordechai and his wife. But the national mood shifted after the October 7 attacks. 'Netanyahu really ramped up this right-wing engine … ,' Mordechai says. 'I started feeling open hostility towards me in Israel as a liberal.' 'I no longer felt safe. I felt like the climate made it very easy to attack left-wing protesters like us, even if they were Israeli citizens,' he recalls. As immigrants to Greece, 'in Athens we are isolated,' he says. 'But at least people are not openly hostile.' Peace activist Noga, who documented human rights violations in the Palestinian Territories for the B'Tselem centre, left Israel in September 2024. 'I lost faith,' she says simply. 'I saw how people react when there is violence against them, and there is injustice and violence committed by their country against the others … people just don't want to know about the injustice that we are doing. They just feel [like] victims.' She also spoke of feeling 'isolated', even among her mostly leftist circle in Israel. After the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, she says many Israelis 'lost compassion'. 'I felt that hardly anybody that I know [or] around me cares about what's going on in Gaza … it was not something even that people talk about,' she says. 'And when the people do talk about it, they found a way to justify what is going on.' 'Of course, there are activists in Israel that stay in Israel and fight and do very important work,' she says. But those who are working for peace may still have a long wait. 'We're too small a minority to change things,' Noga says. The Israeli 'burden' A year after settling into her new home in Milan, Noga found a new sense of peace. 'I felt I moved to just a normal country that when you see an airplane, it's just an airplane that takes people from here and there. Not a war machine that is going to kill children.' And no one seems to judge her in the Lombardy capital. But Noga still has a lingering sense of remorse, what she calls 'the burden of my Israeliness'. 'I always feel … the guilt of what Israel is doing, and I'm always afraid that people will think that I support it.' And there may be reason to feel uneasy. 'Israel is on the verge of becoming a pariah state on the international stage, and Israelis are being singled out,' Schillo observes. Italy saw a sharp increase in anti-Jewish violence following the October 2023 attacks and the start of the Gaza war. The 216 anti-Semitic incidents recorded just between October and December of that year were almost equal to the 241 seen in the entirety of 2022, according to an annual report from the anti-Semitism observatory. 'Anti-Semitic tsunami' A similar trend can be seen in many Western countries. 'An anti-Semitic tsunami is sweeping the planet,' says Schillo. 'Israelis, even if they have chosen to move away from Israel, are still perceived as Israelis, as Jews: they are caught in the crossfire.' Mordechai is cautious in his new home country, rarely mentioning his country of origin and often lowering his voice when speaking Hebrew to his wife or children. While he was never a particularly proud Israeli, he says he now feels like it is 'something that I need to apologise for'. When people ask, 'Saying I'm from Israel is already sometimes considered a political or even violent act,' he says. 'But you can't help it … it's where I was born.' He is even careful speaking to other Israelis who may not share his critical views of Israel. Left-wing and liberal Israelis are currently experiencing a 'double isolation', he says. Since leftists usually take the side of the victim and the underdog, 'the international left doesn't have room for us right now'. 'There is no room for our pain.' France 24 P
Nahar Net
9 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Erdogan tells Putin Turkey backs Ukraine peace talks involving 'all parties'
by Naharnet Newsdesk 20 August 2025, 17:06 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday informed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone that Turkey would support a process involving "all parties" for peace in Ukraine, the Turkish presidency said. Erdogan told Putin that "Turkey has sincerely strived for a just peace since the beginning of the war, and in this context, supports approaches aimed at establishing lasting peace with the participation of all parties," his office said in a statement. Turkey, which enjoys friendly ties with both its Black Sea neighbors, has hosted three rounds of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia since May. Ankara has often insisted on the protection of Ukraine's territorial integrity while shying away from Western sanctions on Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in Washington on Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Putin in Alaska. NATO head Mark Rutte called Erdogan on Tuesday by phone on his way back to Europe after that meeting, the Turkish presidency said. The pair discussed "Turkey's contribution to the peace process, as one of NATO's most important countries" and agreed to remain on close coordination, according to the presidency. They also exchanged views on feasible and sustainable security guarantees, the statement said, without further elaboration.
