Over in Turkey a pundit speaks:

Metin Peker, chairman of the Association of Turkish Cartoonists, speaking to Today’s Zaman condemned the cartoon published by Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda depicting Prophet Muhammad as a dog, saying it has nothing to do with freedom of expression but is obviously the product of the ill intention.

Caricature is the art of satire and humor and should never be used for insult or oppression. Such cartoons are not acceptable. Certainly they do not help the peace and mutual understanding of different cultures and do not contribute to world peace, which we are genuinely in need of. It is clear that such works are simply the products of an ill intention aiming to provoke Muslims and instigate a clash of civilizations.
Peker suggests these cartoons come at a delicate time for Muslims as Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, is approaching. This is proof that it is provocation, according to Peker.

Meanwhile, some minor league rioting over in Bangladesh capital Dhaka

Baton-wielding police broke up a protest by hundreds of Islamists in the Bangladeshi capital yesterday against a magazine which published a cartoon they said hurt Muslims’ religious feelings, witnesses said. Police waded in to halt a march by about 500 demonstrators chanting “death to the editor” and “hang the cartoonist” near Dhaka’s national mosque. Police said the march could not go ahead under the current state of emergency, imposed when an army-backed interim government took charge in January after months of political violence.

1 COMMENT

  1. The “ill intention” in this case to again highlight that Islam is unable to respond to blasphemy without involving death threats and violence.

    I mean, that cartoonist’s obviously a dick, but when you hear that newspapers (even American ones) refuse to reprint the cartoons because of “security concerns”, it’s hard not to want to run out and buy a “FUCK MOHAMMED” t-shirt.

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