Istanbul: On July 2, Turkey commemorated the 32nd anniversary of the Madimak Massacre, a tragic event where 33 intellectuals and artists, predominantly from the Alevi community, and two hotel staff members were killed by a fundamentalist mob at the Madimak Hotel in Sivas province. Thousands gathered to lay carnations at the site and called for the transformation of the hotel into a museum to serve as a poignant reminder of Turkey’s history of religiously motivated violence.
According to Global Voices, just two days prior, a charged crowd assembled outside the offices of LeMan, one of Turkey’s last remaining satirical magazines, driven by a controversial cartoon published in its June 26 issue. Authorities accused the cartoon, which depicted figures identified as Muhammad and Moses amid war-torn scenes, of openly insulting religious values, leading to protests, arrests, and investigations into the magazine.
On June 30, an extremist mob protested outside LeMan’s Istanbul office, chanting Sharia slogans, throwing stones, and attempting forced entry. While the mob remained untouched, four of the magazine’s staff were arrested, including manager Ali Yavuz, editor Zafer Aknar, cartoonist Dogan Pehlevan, and graphic designer Cebrail Okçu. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated that the arrests were for publicly insulting religious values under Article 216 of the penal code. Authorities raided the office, seized copies of the June issue, and launched a financial probe into the magazine’s funding. Meanwhile, the protesters who attacked people at nearby bars and restaurants faced no police action.
Journalist Ezgi Basaran highlighted the possible connection between the mob and the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders Front (IBDA-C), the group behind the Sivas attack 32 years ago. Although mostly dormant, the group has a history of targeting secular institutions, raising concerns about the government’s selective enforcement of the law.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç criticized the cartoon, promising legal action and confirming the arrests. In contrast, the radical Islamist protesters faced no charges, which Basaran pointed out as selective toleration of gatherings by the regime.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the cartoon as a vile provocation and promised accountability for those showing disrespect toward the Prophet Muhammad and other prophets.
Internationally, organizations like Reporters Without Borders and Cartooning for Peace condemned the arrests as an attack on press freedom, with Turkey currently ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index.
The parallels between the LeMan incident and the 1993 Madimak Massacre are stark. Both involved accusations of religious insult leading to violent mob action. In 1993, the Madimak massacre resulted in lethal violence, while the LeMan incident saw state-backed repression and arrests. In both cases, the mobs went largely unpunished.
The Madimak Massacre marked a rupture between religious conservatism and secular artistic expression. Now, the LeMan incident suggests that the lines of that culture war remain intact. Assistant Professor Lisel Hintz from Johns Hopkins University interprets the government’s handling of the LeMan attack as an escalation of the culture war, aiming to vilify and delegitimize opposition.
While methods have changed, the underlying message remains clear: dissent is dangerous, and satire, once a tool for laughing at power, is now considered an act of rebellion.