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Turkey detains 2 cartoonists over satirical drawing depicting Moses and Muhammad
- Turkish authorities detained four employees of the satirical weekly Leman on July 1, 2025, over a cartoon allegedly insulting religious values in Istanbul.
- The arrests followed public protests and an investigation launched by the chief public prosecutor into the June 26 cartoon depicting Prophets Moses and Muhammad exchanging greetings amid missiles.
- Riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds protesting near Leman's offices, while the magazine denied the cartoon caricatured Muhammad and apologized to readers feeling hurt.
- Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc criticized the cartoon, stating that any depiction of the Prophet is offensive to religious beliefs and disrupts social harmony, while arrest warrants were issued for senior staff members of the magazine.
- The incident intensified debates on religious respect, freedom of expression, and Turkey's low press freedom ranking of 158th out of 180 in 2024, suggesting ongoing tensions between satire and religious sensitivities.
247 Articles
247 Articles
DFG: 16 journalists detained, 6 jailed in June
The Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) released its Report on Human Rights Violations Against Journalists for June 2025. The report stated that 16 journalists were detained last month, six of whom were remanded in custody. With the latest arrests, the number of journalists behind bars in Turkey rose to 34. The report described the targeting of Leman magazine over a cartoon, the raid on its office, and the imprisonment of four employees wh…
Nonprofit urges release of four detained members of left-wing Türkiye magazine
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday demanded that Turkish authorities release four staff members of the LeMan magazine who were arrested for a publication purportedly depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Police in Türkiye detained the cartoonists on Monday. The publication superficially illustrated Muhammad, Islam’s chief prophet, and Moses, a critical prophet of Judaism, shaking hands in the sky while war erupts below them. While L…
The men were arrested on suspicion of intentionally insulting religious values, which is a crime.
Turkey arrests magazine staff over drawing of Prophet Muhammad
Istanbul: Turkish authorities on Wednesday arrested four staff members of a satirical magazine on charges of inciting “public hatred and enmity” over a controversial cartoon that officials claim depicts the Prophet Muhammad, Turkish state television reported. The cartoon, published in the weekly LeMan magazine, sparked a backlash from government officials and religious groups, culminating in protests outside the magazine’s Istanbul offices. Auth…
Erdogan says cartoon depicting prophets is ‘vile provocation’
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned as a “vile provocation” a cartoon in a satirical magazine that appeared to depict the prophets Mohammad and Moses, amplifying an outcry by religious conservatives after the arrest of four cartoonists.
Extremist groups attacked the magazine LeMan, the Turkish judiciary ordered the arrest of the director and three other people, including the author of the drawing. Erdogan speaks of 'clear, vile provocation' and accuses the authors of immorality. Activists and movements of civil society condemn the methods of detention, comparable to 'torture', and the dissemination of videos.
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- 35% of the sources lean Left, 35% of the sources are Center
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