Four employees of a satirical magazine in Türkiye have been arrested for publishing a cartoon that shows Prophet Muhammad – a sacred religious person whose depiction is prohibited in Islam.
Turkish internal minister Ali Yralikaya condemned the drawing of Lemon Magazine as “shameless”, announcing that his editor, graphic designer, institutional director and cartoonist were detained.
In a post on the social media site X, Lemon denied that its cartoon was a caricature of Muhammad, saying that “the work does not refer to Prophet Muhammad in any way”.
The riot police were deployed in Istanbul on Monday as hundreds of people protested against the publication.
The protesters assembled outside Lemon’s offices, such as “tooth for tooth, blood for blood, revision, rivers” slogans.
Rubber bullets and tear gas were fired by a reporter for the Egnes France-Press (AFP) news agency to disperse the crowd.
The Turkish Minister of Justice said that an investigation was initiated by the office of the Chief Public Prosecutor to “publicly insult religious values”.
Yilamaz Tunan wrote on X, “Any form of visual representation of our Prophet not only harms our religious values, but also damages social peace.”
“Necessary legal steps will be taken without any delay” against Lemon’s journalists, “he said.
Yerlikaya also shared videos being arrested on “Vile Drawing” of four employees.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for other members of the senior management of the magazine.
Cartoon images have appeared on social media, showing two characters with wings floating in the sky above a city under the siege.
One of the characters has said that “Shanti is on you, I am Muhammad”, and the other answer, “Shanti is on you, I am Moses”.
Lemon apologized to the “well -intent -minded readers hurt”, but defended his work and dismissed the allegations that the cartoon was a portrayal of Muhammad.
“Cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of oppressed Muslim people by portraying a Muslim killed by Israel, and he never intended to insult religious values,” he said in a statement on X.
“We do not accept the stain that is put on us because there is no depiction of our Prophet. You must be very malicious to explain the cartoon in this way.”
Lemon’s editor-in-chief Tunke Ekagun, who is currently in Paris, told the AFP that the work was misinterpreted and the magazine “would never take such a risk”.
He said that the backlash draws “similarities with Charlie Hebdo”, which is “very deliberate and very worrying”, referring to the 2015 attack on the 2015 attack on the 2015 attack on the 2015 attack on this Prophet Muhammad after publishing a caricature of Prophet Muhammad.
Charlie Hebdo’s offices were given a storm by gunmen who killed 12 people and were one of the worst security crises in France’s history.
