Erdogan says cartoon depicting prophets is 'vile provocation'

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned as a "vile provocation" a cartoon in a satirical magazine that appeared to depict Prophets Mohammad and Moses, amplifying an outcry by religious conservatives after the arrest of four cartoonists.

The cartoon, published a few days after the end of a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, appears to show Mohammad, Islam's chief prophet, and Moses, one of Judaism's most important prophets, shaking hands in the sky while missiles fly below in a wartime scene.

It was criticised by religious conservatives and Erdogan's ruling party, which called it an "Islamophobic hate crime," even as the magazine Leman apologised to readers who felt offended and said it had been misunderstood.

"We will not allow anyone to speak against our sacred values," Erdogan said in televised remarks, adding that authorities would closely follow the legal process.

"Those who show disrespect to our Prophet and other prophets will be held accountable before the law," he said.

The four Leman cartoonists were detained late on Monday over the drawing.

Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted AK Party regularly criticise what they call Islamophobic acts in broadly secular Turkey and across Europe. Devout Muslims regard depictions of the Prophet Mohammad as blasphemous.

In a statement on X, Leman said "the work does not refer to the Prophet Mohammad in any way".

The cartoonist, Dogan Pehlevan, had sought to highlight "the suffering of a Muslim man killed in Israeli attacks", it said, adding there was no intent to insult Islam or its prophet.

The magazine urged authorities to counter what it called a smear campaign, and to protect freedom of expression.

Several civil society groups condemned the detentions as a violation of freedom of thought and expression.

Turkey's freedom of expression ranking is low due to restrictions on media and public discourse. Reporters Without Borders ranked it 158th out of 180 countries in its 2024 Press Freedom Index.

More than 200 people rallied against Leman in central Istanbul on Tuesday, despite a ban on gatherings and a heavy police presence.

One protester, public servant Muhammed Emin Necipsoy, said the magazine's defence seemed insincere. "There is a subtle emphasis there on both the Prophet (Mohammad) and the Prophet Moses," he said.

Late on Monday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya shared a video on X showing police officers detaining Pehlevan, the cartoonist, with his hands cuffed behind his back as he was dragged up a stairwell.

He also shared videos of three other men being removed from their homes and dragged into vans, one of them barefoot.

"The individual who drew this vile image, D.P., has been apprehended and taken into custody. These shameless people will be held accountable before the law," Yerlikaya wrote.

The government said an inquiry was launched under a penal code article that criminalises incitement to hatred and enmity.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Ezgi Erkoyun; writing by Jonathan Spicer; editing by Ros Russell and Mark Heinrich)