You can’t order simpler times online, but you can get simpler thymes on the Kekik Kokulu Köy Vlog. Straight from Adıyaman, it’s the mix of village life and mountain herbs we all need right now.
In this week’s recap:
Satirical comic draws backlash
CHP trial ongoing, detentions hit Izmir
PKK to begin disarming process
Domestic and diplomatic wraps
Ankara may host 2026 NATO summit
Also from us this week:
Gallia Lindenstrauss unpacks Turkey-Israel relations on Recap radio
Sibel Hürtaş on the systematic challenges faced by LGBTQ citizens
Meclis recap on the new climate bill passed in parliament Wednesday
This week, Turkish riot police clashed not only with government opponents and LGBTQ activists, but also with conservatives. News producers had a lot of street footage to choose from, and maybe that was the point.
The June 26 edition of LeMan, one of Turkey’s last satirical cartoon magazines, published a comic with two angels named Muhammed and Moses. Some people interpreted this as a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad and protested at the LeMan cafe in central Istanbul on July 1 – the night CHP held a rally to mark jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoğlu’s 100th day in jail. (More below)
Correlation is not causation and conspiracy theories are commonplace, but many commentators have called this controversy a fabrication. Among them is the anti-capitalist theologian Ihsan Eliaçık, who said the cartoon did not contain insults to religious values, and the protests were “planned”.
Likewise, journalist Ezgi Başaran wrote “in Turkey, escalation is rarely accidental” in her post detailing the ideological roots of the Great Eastern Raiders (BDA), the group that led the LeMan protests. In short, their past iterations published positive coverage of the Islamic State during the Syrian Civil War.
Online videos of Tuesday’s protests show crowds chanting anti-Kemalist slogans and one much-cited protester saying: “Either they will die, or we will die.”
For their part, LeMan refuted ideological accusations in a statement and the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgün told AFP the cartoon “has nothing to do with prophet Muhammad. We would never take such a risk.” Notably, CHP Chair Özel defended LeMan while Imamoğlu and Ankara Mayor Yavaş did not.
As for the government response, Pres. Erdoğan Tuesday said the cartoon was a “vile provocation” adding, "Those who show disrespect to our Prophet and other prophets will be held accountable before the law.”
The statement came after Interior Min. Ali Yerlikaya shared videos of four LeMan staff members getting detained by police late Monday night. One was taken without his shoes.
The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office opened a financial investigation into LeMan’s management Wednesday. Courts have also issued access bans on magazine’s website and social media accounts, while ordering the removal of the June 26 issue from store shelves.
“On recent events, there’s a common pattern: a government actor or pro-government journalist makes a claim on social media and conservative loyalists networked through civil society organizations like the Islamic Solidarity Platform rally in outrage, often with violence,” Lisel Hintz, assist. prof. of international relations at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, told Turkey recap.
“I do think we can read the LeMan attack and the government’s handling of it as an escalation of the culture war Erdoğan has been waging as a way to vilify and delegitimize opposition writ large,” she added.
You Keep CHP Hangin' On: Congress trial ongoing, detentions hit Izmir
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Turkey recap to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.