Turkish police arrest at least 4 magazine employees over cartoon allegedly depicting Prophet
Istanbul: Turkish police have arrested at least four employees of the satirical weekly magazine LeMan following allegations that a recently published cartoon depicted the Prophet Muhammad, sparking protests and clashes in Istanbul.
The image allegedly appeared to show a Muslim and a Jewish man, with wings and halos, shaking hands in the sky above a scene of buildings with missiles falling—a portrayal that protesters interpreted as a visual representation of the Prophet Muhammad.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on social media, LeMan denied that the cartoon was intended to depict the Prophet Muhammad. The publication clarified that the name "Muhammed" referenced in the illustration was meant to represent a Muslim victim of Israeli airstrikes, not the Prophet.
“In the work, the name Muhammed is fictionalised as belonging to a Muslim person killed in Israel’s bombardments. There are more than 200 million people named Muhammed in the Islamic world. The work does not refer to the Prophet Muhammed in any way,” the magazine said.
“By highlighting a murdered Muslim, the aim was to highlight the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people, with no intention whatsoever of belittling religious values. We reject the stigma imposed on us, as there is no depiction of our Prophet,” it added.
In response to public outcry, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç confirmed that the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had launched an investigation into the publication for "publicly insulting religious values."
"The caricature or any form of visual representation of our Prophet not only harms our religious values but also damages societal peace," Tunc wrote on X, adding that necessary legal steps will be taken without delay against LeMan's journalists.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya also posted on social media, stating that the cartoonist responsible for the image and LeMan's graphic designer had been taken into custody.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for the magazine’s editor-in-chief and managing editor, according to media reports.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
