A financial crimes investigation was launched into a publication behind a cartoon allegedly depicting the Prophet Muhammad that stirred up outrage in Türkiye this week.
Four people, including the cartoonist, were detained early Tuesday on charges of insulting religious values, while angry crowds gathered near the offices of the satirical magazine Leman in Istanbul on Monday, days after it published the cartoon.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that they were looking into the links of the company publishing Leman, which is known for its controversial covers, in the vein of France’s Charlie Hebdo. Prosecutors say the cartoon, which also claimed to depict the Prophet Moses, revered in Islam as Musa, may constitute the crime of inciting public hatred.
Leman found itself in hot water over the publication, with social media users calling for its closure. Authorities ordered a recall of the June 26 edition in which the cartoon was published. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has defined the act as “vile provocation” in a speech on Tuesday and vowed justice for those behind it.
Prosecutors named the top officials of the LM Basın Yayın company, which publishes Leman, as suspects while the magazine’s editor-in-chief and an administrator remain at large. Apart from four detained suspects, two other people were named as potential suspects by prosecutors, including M.Ç., another Leman cartoonist who also serves as administrator of the company, and K.Ş., an administrator at LMK Entertainment, which oversees Leman’s franchising business. The statement from the office says companies and suspects were being investigated to check whether they received financial funding from abroad or Türkiye for the publication of the cartoon. In the meantime, four suspects were referred to a court on Wednesday with prosecutors asking for their arrest. A verdict was expected later Wednesday.
The depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is an act of blasphemy for Muslims. In the penal code of secular Türkiye, it may amount to an offense of insulting a faith, which also applies to other faiths like Christianity in the country.
Authorities advised calm as infuriated mobs staged demonstrations against the cartoon, while riot police were deployed around Leman’s offices. Politicians were quick to denounce the act in a Muslim-majority country while urging the public not to fall for what is viewed as an act to incite the public. Some opposition politicians defended the cartoon on the basis of freedom of expression. Among them were Özgür Özel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), while his party’s popular figures, including Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş and former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, underlined respect for the prophet.
Erdoğan told fellow members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday that disrespect for the prophet contradicted the Turkish nation’s values and was unacceptable. Erdoğan, who prides himself on his religious background, said it was through following the path of "our prophet" that people can be blessed with Allah's mercy.
"It is a requirement of our faith to admire our prophet above anyone. Our nation admires him and thanks Allah for being his ummah," Erdoğan said.
The president said it was unacceptable that "immoral people engaged in disrespect" toward the prophet. "It is a blatant, heinous provocation under the guise of satire. Our law enforcement and judiciary took swift action and launched the necessary legal proceedings," he said. "Those behind it will be held accountable. We will monitor this case. As long as we govern this country, we cannot allow anyone to insult our sacred values," Erdoğan said.
The president, however, warned youth not to "let their anger cloud their mind," and not fall for such provocations.
Leman is known for its past collaboration with France’s Charlie Hebdo, which is infamous for publishing such cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims. The cartoonist D.P., meanwhile, is known for his provocative tweets, including a recent one calling for an “armed uprising” against the democratically elected government.
Devlet Bahçeli, head of government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said in a speech at Parliament on Tuesday that he condemned the “repulsive attack on our prophet in this so-called satirical magazine, which is as primitive as its foreign counterparts,” referring to European publications such as Charlie Hebdo. Bahçeli suggested that Türkiye should enact a political, strategic and legal action plan against the Islamophobia creeping into Türkiye.
