Trump and his decisions

 Protests in Turkey over alleged cartoon of Prophet Muhammad, four journalists arrested

Four employees of a satirical magazine in Turkey have been arrested for publishing a cartoon that appeared to depict the Prophet Muhammad.

It should be noted that drawing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad is forbidden in Islam.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya described the cartoon published in the Lemen magazine as “shameful” and said that its editor, graphic designer, director and cartoonist had been detained.

The magazine denied publishing the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in a post on the social media platform X, saying that “there is no mention of the Prophet Muhammad anywhere in our work.”

A heavy police presence was deployed in Istanbul on Monday as protests against the magazine were taking place there.

Protesters gathered outside the magazine's offices and chanted "teeth for a tooth, blood for blood, revenge, revenge."

According to an AFP correspondent, police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The Turkish justice minister said the chief prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into the case for "insulting religious values."

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tantış wrote in a post on X that "any kind of cartoon and depiction of our prophet is not only harmful to our religious values, but also destroys the peace of society."

He added that "necessary legal measures will be taken without delay" against the magazine's journalists.

Yilmaz Tantış also shared videos on social media of the arrest of four employees for publishing the "worst cartoon" on social media.

Warrants have also been issued for the arrest of other senior officials of the magazine.

Images of the cartoon also appeared on social media, showing two characters with wings flying in the sky above a besieged city.

One character in the cartoon says, “Peace be upon you, I am Muhammad,” while the other replies, “Peace be upon you, I am Moses.”

Lemon magazine apologized to “readers who were offended,” but defended its work, saying that the cartoon printed in the magazine did not depict the Prophet Muhammad.

In a statement to X, the magazine said that “the cartoonist wanted to show the innocence of oppressed Muslims by showing the killing of a Muslim by Israel.”

The magazine denied the accusation that it had printed the cartoon of the Prophet, saying, “We cannot accept this stain because it is not the image of our Prophet.” You have to be very malicious to describe the cartoon in that way.’

Lemon’s editor-in-chief, currently in Paris, told AFP that his work had been misinterpreted and that the magazine “would never take such a risk.”

He added that the reaction to the cartoons was “similar to Charlie Hebdo,” which was “deliberate and disturbing.”

The French magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked in 2015 after it published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Twelve people were killed in an attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices by gunmen in the worst security crisis in French history.