France records second-hottest June since 1900, minister confirms
France registered its second-warmest June since records began in 1900, the country’s ministry for ecological transition said in comments reported by AFP.
“June 2025 has become the second hottest June since records began in 1900, behind June 2003,” said France’s minister for ecological transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
People cool off with water from Varsovie fountain by the Eiffel Tower during a heatwave in Paris, France. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
Spain and Portugal also reported the hottest June temperatures in history.
Morning opening: How can we live with that?
Jakub Krupa
As the European heatwave continues and expands east – with Paris, Rome,Berlin, Vienna, Prague and Warsaw all expecting temperatures in the 30s – there are growing debates about how do we adapt to deal with these temperatures.
People find shade to cool off next to a fountain in Piazza del Popolo in Rome, Italy. Photograph: M Scott Brauer/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
The World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations’ weather and climate agency, said yesterday that we will have to learn to live with the new normal of extreme heatwaves, which will occur more often and be more intense as the time goes.
And the issue of how do we respond to this increasingly becomes a political issue, too, as parts of the European electorate continue to express their doubts about the cost of climate policies.
EU’s green transition chief Teresa Ribera told my colleague Sam Jones that political cowardice is hindering European efforts to face up to the effects of the climate crisis, even as the continent is pummelled by a record-breaking heatwave.
Ribera said that although the effects of the climate emergency were becoming increasingly obvious, they were still not translating into proper action as some political parties “continue to insist, quite vehemently, that climate change does not exist”, or else say that taking decisions to adapt to environmental realities is too expensive.
You can read the interview here:
I will bring you all the latest updates from across Europe on how the continent is coping with the heat, but also on these debates as the public’s attention turns to another question: how can we live with that?
Italy offers one solution as it introduces limits on outdoor work, but surely that’s not enough and doesn’t address the underlying issues. What else, then?
It’s Wednesday, 2 July 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
The Dalai Lama confirmed on Wednesday that he will have a successor to carry on the role of spiritual leadership to Tibetan Buddhists, in a statement issued during continuing celebrations to mark his 90th birthday.
He said that leaders of Tibet’s spiritual traditions, members of the Tibetan parliament and government in exile, both of which are in the Indian district of Dharamshala, and Buddhists from around the world, including mainland China and Tibet, had written to him, requesting that the institution continue.
“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he said.
His statement was issued as Buddhist scholars and revered monks from around the world have converged on McLeodganj town in Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama lives, to participate in his 90th birthday celebrations. The town, also known as “Little Lhasa” because it is in effect the capital of Tibetan Buddhists in exile, will also host an intense three-day religious conference that the Dalai Lama will preside over.
But the occasion isn’t only religious. How the next Dalai Lama is chosen, and by whom, carries deep geopolitical significance.
For centuries, Tibetan Buddhist leaders have chosen and enthroned a new Dalai Lama only after an intense quest and subsequent schooling after the incumbent passes away. If the current Dalai Lama, the 14th, offers any more details in the coming days about how his successor might be chosen, or who it might be, that would represent a dramatic break with tradition.
What he says, and doesn’t say, will be closely watched in Washington, New Delhi and Beijing.
The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who fled Tibet for India in 1959, is seen as a separatist by Beijing, which was quick to push back against the spiritual leader’s comments on Wednesday, insisting that it had a veto over the choice of the next Dalai Lama.
India, as his host for 66 years, also has deep stakes in the future of the institution of the Dalai Lama, who has known every Indian prime minister since the country gained independence. And the United States, which has long cited the Tibetan movement in exile as evidence of China’s human rights excesses, will want to make sure that the glue that binds it all – the institution of the Dalai Lama – continues.
So, who will choose the next Dalai Lama? Can the incumbent Dalai Lama stump the Chinese government? And could there be two Dalai Lamas?
How is a Dalai Lama chosen?
Choosing the next Dalai Lama, who will be enthroned as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is a process rooted in centuries-old traditions, spiritual beliefs, and rituals.
Traditions consider the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and each Dalai Lama is believed to be the successor in a line of reincarnations.
Traditionally, the search for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation typically begins after a period of mourning. High-ranking lamas (spiritual leaders) form a search committee to identify the next Dalai Lama, based on signs such as the direction of the smoke blowing from his cremation, the direction where he was looking when he died, and oracles’ visions, including at Lhamo Latso, a lake considered holy in Tibet.
Once potential candidates are identified, they undergo a series of tests to confirm their identity as the reincarnation. Candidates are usually young boys born at about the time of the previous Dalai Lama’s death. But the current Dalai Lama has said that there is no reason why a woman cannot be the next reincarnation.
After a candidate is chosen, the child begins a rigorous education in Buddhist philosophy, scriptures and leadership responsibilities, preparing them to assume the role of both a spiritual and, historically, political leader of the Tibetan people.
Who is the current Dalai Lama and how was he chosen?
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th and current Dalai Lama, was born as Lhamo Dhondup on July 6, 1935, to a farming family in a region now in Qinghai province. He was identified as a reincarnation when he was barely two years old.
After the death of the 13th Dalai Lama, the search party concluded a four-year-long quest after the toddler identified belongings of his predecessor with the phrase, “It’s mine, it’s mine.” While the majority of Dalai Lamas have been born in Tibet, one was discovered in Mongolia, and another in a region that today lies in northeastern India.
In March 1959, after a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese control, the Dalai Lama fled Lhasa in disguise, crossing the Himalayas on horseback and foot, eventually reaching India on March 31 that year. Nearly 100,000 Tibetan refugees live in different parts of India today, the community’s largest exile population.
His escape marked the end of traditional Tibetan governance and the beginning of a life in exile, from where he led the Tibetan struggle for autonomy.
A painting by Kanwal Krishna, probably dated in the 1930s, of a young Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, born in 1935), the traditional religious and temporal head of Tibet’s Buddhist clergy [Kanwal Krishna/AFP]
What has the 14th Dalai Lama said about his successor?
Addressing a beaming crowd of followers and monks in McLeodganj on Monday, June 30, the Dalai Lama, clad in his traditional red robes and yellow scarf, said: “As far as the institution of the Dalai Lama is concerned, there will be a framework for it to continue.
“I think I have been able to serve the Dharma and sentient beings and I am determined to continue to do so,” he added, noting that at 90 years old, he feels “physically healthy and well”.
He has also hinted about where to look for the next Dalai Lama. Noting that the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the 14th Dalai Lama wrote in his book, Voice for the Voiceless, published in March 2025, that “the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world”.
In effect, that has meant that the Dalai Lama has decreed that the reincarnation would not be in China or China-controlled Tibet. He had earlier said that his incarnation could be found in India.
For Tenzin Jigme, a 39-year-old who lives in McLeodganj and works with the Tibetan government-in-exile, the mere thought of the Dalai Lama passing away is heavy. His voice broke as he said, “We live in a free world because he led us here.”
“For all of us, living as refugees, His Holiness Dalai Lama is a fatherly figure,” Jigme told Al Jazeera. “We need his reincarnation; look at the world, we need someone to teach us compassion.”
Was there a risk that there wouldn’t be a successor?
The 14th Dalai Lama has suggested in the past that there may not be a successor at all.
In 2011, he said that when he turned 90, he would consult his fellow lamas and the Tibetan public and “re‑evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not”.
In 2014, during a visit to the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome, the then-79-year-old spiritual leader said that whether another Dalai Lama would be enthroned after him would depend on the circumstances after his death and was “up to the Tibetan people”.
“The Dalai Lama institution will cease one day. These man-made institutions will cease,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview with the BBC. “There is no guarantee that some stupid Dalai Lama won’t come next, who will disgrace himself or herself. That would be very sad. So, much better that a centuries-old tradition should cease at the time of a quite popular Dalai Lama.”
Dibyesh Anand, a professor of international relations at the University of Westminster and the author of Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination, said the institution of the Dalai Lama will face immense uncertainty in the coming decades.
But, he said, “the history shows that this institution has been more protean and resilient than politically power-based states.”
Subsequent exiled Dalai Lamas “will not have political power in conventional sense”; however, the institution will remain “symbolically the heart of the Tibetan nation and the most respected authority in Tibetan Buddhism,” he said.
A Chinese soldier mans a checkpoint near the Potala Palace, the former residence of the Dalai Lama, on October 24, 1989 [Guy Dinmore/Reuters]
What is China’s position on this?
China insists that only its government has the authority to approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, treating it as a matter of national sovereignty and religious regulation. This position was cemented in a 2007 law, which mandates that all reincarnations of Tibetan “living Buddhas” must be approved by the state and must follow Chinese laws, religious rituals and historical precedent.
Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that the next Dalai Lama must be born inside China, and any foreign-born or exile-appointed successor would be considered “illegitimate”.
A key element of China’s proposed process is the golden urn system, an 18th-century Qing Dynasty method in which the names of candidates are placed in a golden vessel and one is selected by lot.
On Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs doubled down on its position regarding the pick of the next Dalai Lama. “The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and other great Buddhist figures must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn, and approved by the central government,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing. The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
“The Chinese government implements a policy of freedom of religious belief, but there are regulations on religious affairs and methods for managing the reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas,” Mao said.
The current Dalai Lama doesn’t favour the golden urn method, arguing that it lacks “spiritual quality”.
In March 2015, then Tibet Governor Padma Choling accused the Dalai Lama of “profaning religion and Tibetan Buddhism,” adding that the Dalai Lama was trying to usurp Beijing’s right to decide.
“If he says no reincarnation, then no reincarnation? Impossible. Nobody in Tibetan Buddhism would agree to that,” said Choling.
While talks over finding the next Dalai Lama traditionally occur after the death of the incumbent, the Chinese position has left monks and Tibetans in exile worried that Beijing might try to hijack the institution.
The centrality of the Dalai Lama to the Tibetan national movement and his stature as a global icon are irritants for Beijing, said Anand, the professor.
“This is a battle over legitimacy and not actual rule over territorial Tibet. Beijing seeks to win that battle of legitimacy but faces an institution and person in the 14th Dalai Lama that is beyond its control,” he told Al Jazeera.
Robert Barnett, a scholar of modern Tibetan history and politics and founder of Columbia University’s Modern Tibetan Studies Program, said that some “Chinese strategists see the succession issue purely as an opportunity to frustrate the exile project”.
Another reason could be the Chinese leaders’ anticipation of another plausible Tibetan uprising. It helps Beijing to “have a ‘tame’ Dalai Lama to dissuade Tibetans from protest,” Barnett told Al Jazeera.
Has China hijacked a selection before?
Yes. In 1995, the Dalai Lama recognised a young boy in Tibet as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He was a six-year-old, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the son of a doctor and a nurse from the Tibetan town of Naqchu.
Soon after, Chinese authorities took the boy into custody and relocated the family. Their whereabouts are not known since.
In his place, Beijing appointed its own candidate, a move widely rejected by Tibetan Buddhists in exile and many inside Tibet, who view the Chinese-selected Panchen Lama as illegitimate.
The disappearance of the Panchen Lama in 1995 was a turning point in Chinese-Tibetan political history, said Barnett.
“The Chinese side decided that it has to control not just which child should be chosen, but whether a lama can reincarnate, where he or she can reincarnate, who should search for them,” he said. The Chinese were clear that the Dalai Lama needed to be excluded from the process.
That episode is a key reason why the current Dalai Lama and Tibetans in exile are opposed to the selection of any future reincarnation inside China, including Tibet. The chosen child might simply be abducted, as happened 30 years ago.
Anand said that China’s goal is to dishearten and divide Tibetans. “If [China] cannot achieve it through winning hearts and minds, they’d do it through divide and rule, and this is how we should see the battle over reincarnation,” he told Al Jazeera.
Tibetans in New Delhi carry pictures of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama reincarnation recognised by the Dalai Lama, and shout anti-Chinese slogans to mark their protest on December 8 against the enthronement of another Panchen Lama recognised by the Chinese government in Tibet today [Reuters]
A case of two rival Dalai Lamas
Tibet observers and scholars believe that after the 14th Dalai Lama’s death, Tibetan Buddhists might well find a scenario where two rival successors jostle for legitimacy – an exiled leader, appointed by the lamas faithful to the incumbent Dalai Lama, and one appointed by the Chinese government.
It would be unprecedented in the history of Tibetan Buddhism, but “is highly likely to occur,” said Barnett.
While the reality of two Dalai Lamas may not matter to exiled Tibetans from a religious perspective, it “makes life very difficult for Tibetans inside Tibet who will be forced in huge numbers to publicly declare their loyalty to China over and over again”.
Barnett noted that Beijing could also use the succession issue as leverage to get foreign governments to marginalise organisations of Tibetans in exile in those countries.
Anand said that Beijing’s insistence on its candidate “will be a source of instability in China-Tibetan relations” and “may come back to haunt the Chinese Communist Party”.
In an interview in March 2019, the Dalai Lama acknowledged that following his death, there could be two rival Dalai Lamas. “In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in free country, one chosen by Chinese, then nobody will trust, nobody will respect [the one chosen by China],” he said.
“So that’s an additional problem for the Chinese! It’s possible, it can happen,” the Dalai Lama added, laughing.
This photo taken on September 17, 1959, shows Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (R) and the Dalaï Lama in a Buddhist salutation [Punjab/AFP)
Is the selection also a geostrategic issue?
It is, mainly for India and the United States.
For India, which hosts the Tibetan government-in-exile, the succession of the Dalai Lama intersects with national security and its fraught border relationship with China.
New Delhi will want to carry on giving hospitality and refuge to the Dalai Lama and his followers, said Anand. He added that the “Tibetan exiles in India offer a leverage and buffer to India vis-a-vis China’s influence in the Himalayan region”.
The US’s interest in Tibet dates back to the Cold War era, when the CIA backed Tibetan resistance against Chinese occupation, in the 1950s, including after the Dalai Lama’s exile.
Washington has long shown bipartisan support for the religious autonomy of Tibetan Buddhists, including in choosing the next Dalai Lama.
In 2015, when China claimed authority to select the next Dalai Lama, US officials publicly rejected this, asserting that Tibetan Buddhists alone should decide. The most forceful position came in 2020 with the passage of the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA) under President Donald Trump.
The new US position explicitly supported the Dalai Lama’s right to determine his own reincarnation and authorised sanctions on Chinese officials who interfered in the process.
The international support for the Tibetan right to decide on the institution of the Dalai Lama, Anand said, “is going to play out in geopolitical rivalry between the US and China as well as China and India in the future”.
Recent attacks on girls and young women in South Sudan illustrate how they are at risk and lack adequate protections.
On June 25, armed men in Pochalla North, Jonglei state, reportedly abducted four female students as they travelled to sit for secondary school exams. Though the local community organized search efforts, the four remain missing.
In late June, the police said they had arrested seven suspects in the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl in South Sudan’s capital, Juba. An alleged video of the attack spread online and generated public outrage. Following the incident, the country’s gender minister called for thorough investigations and accountability. Activists called for legal reforms and organized forums to encourage survivors to speak out. But even when cases garner such levels of public scrutiny, convictions are rare.
In May, armed youth surrounded a girls’ boarding school in Marial Lou, Warrap state, trapping at least 100 students inside. According to the United Nations peacekeeping mission, teachers locked the gates until peacekeepers secured the school and negotiated an end to the siege.
These incidents are part of an all-too-familiar story in South Sudan where a girl’s body, her education, and her future are under constant threat. Generations of conflict, widespread access to arms, and patriarchal customs including bride price have long turned women’s and girls’ bodies into battlegrounds, used as spoils of war or bargaining chips in intercommunal disputes.
Watching communities mobilize to protect girls brings hope that such behavior and practices may change, but meaningful protection still depends on the state fulfilling its legal obligations.
A party to the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, South Sudan has also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, committing to protect women, girls, students, and schools from attack. The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Justice have promoted the Anti-Gender Based Violence and Child Protection Bill, which could strengthen legal protections, criminalize forced and child marriage, and guarantee survivors free medical and psychosocial support. Parliament should prioritize the bill’s adoption.
The government should also strengthen the country’s rule-of-law institutions and ensure accountability for perpetrators. Protecting schools from attacks—including by enhancing security presence, youth focused dialogues, and rights-respecting disarmament processes—is critical.
Girls in South Sudan should be able to walk to school and learn without fear, and authorities should act to ensure these basic rights.
US President Donald Trump threatened Japan with tariffs of up to 35% as he ramped up tensions for a third straight day, fueling fears of a worst-case scenario among market players and raising doubts over Tokyo’s tactics in trade talks.
Japan should be forced to “pay 30%, 35% or whatever the number is that we determine, because we also have a very big trade deficit with Japan,” Trump said, again flagging the possibility that across-the-board tariffs could go much higher than the 24% initially penciled in for July 9. “I’m not sure we’re going to make a deal. I doubt it with Japan, they’re very tough. You have to understand, they’re very spoiled.”
Iran has admitted that the US bombing of the key Fordow nuclear site using bunker buster bombs has “seriously and heavily damaged” the facility, but has still maintained that nobody knows what exactly transpired there.
A satellite overview shows the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, near Qom, Iran.(via REUTERS)
In an interview with CBS News, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that an evaluation is currently being done on the facility.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araghchi said in the interview broadcast on Tuesday.
The Fordow nuclear facility is situated deep inside a mountainous terrain and is mostly underground. The foreign minister revealed that the country’s Atomic Energy Organisation will submit the report on the evaluation to the Iranian government.
“The Atomic Energy Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is currently undertaking evaluation and assessment, the report of which will be submitted to the government,” he said.
Intercepted Iranian communications downplayed the extent of damage caused by US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing four people familiar with classified intelligence circulating in Washington.
President Donald Trump has said the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, but intelligence officials acknowledge it will take time to form a complete assessment of the damage caused by the strikes that were carried out more than a week ago.
The US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities
The US joined Israel’s attacks on Iran on June 21 when it bombed the country’s three key nuclear sites. These sites were Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.
While Donald Trump claimed that the strikes were ‘very very successful’ and that Tehran’s nuclear program was destroyed, a US intelligence report contradicted the Republican leader.
Israel had started the attacks on Iran on June 13, killing many top scientists and military leaders. Iran responded with a barrage of missiles fired at various Israeli cities, which caused a lot of damage.
A ceasefire was agreed upon on June 24, which was brokered by the US. While both countries have accused each other of ceasefire violations, it has largely held since.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian put into effect on Wednesday a law passed by parliament last week to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, Iranian state media reported.
Iran has threatened to halt cooperation with the IAEA, accusing it of siding with Western countries and providing a justification for Israel’s air strikes, which began a day after the IAEA board voted to declare Iran in violation of obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The law stipulates that any future inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency needs approval by Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council.
“We are aware of these reports. The IAEA is awaiting further official information from Iran,” the IAEA said in a statement.
Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an interview with CBS News, that the US bombing of Iran’s key Fordow nuclear site has “seriously and heavily damaged” the facility.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast on Tuesday.
“The Atomic Energy Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran… is currently undertaking evaluation and assessment, the report of which will be submitted to the government.”
Previously Washington Post reported that intercepted Iranian communications downplayed the extent of damage caused by US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, citing four people familiar with classified intelligence circulating within the US government.
President Donald Trump has said the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, but US officials acknowledge it will take time to form a complete assessment of the damage caused by the US military strikes last weekend.
US claims strikes on Iran N-programme a success
US military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities early Sunday local time using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. The results of the strikes are being closely watched to see how far they may have set back Iran’s nuclear programme.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said in an often fiery news conference that was also watched by President Donald Trump.
Read:Why is Iran’s Fordow nuclear site in Israel’s crosshairs?
Trump wrote on his social media platform it would have taken too long to remove anything. “The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of (the) facility,” he said, without providing evidence.
Several experts cautioned this week that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes, and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors.
They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing “unusual activity” on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles outside an entrance at Fordow. An Iranian source told Reuters that most of the 60% highly enriched uranium was moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack.
US bombing on Iran’s Fordow
The United States deployed one of its most advanced weapons platforms, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, to deliver GBU-57A/B “bunker-buster” bombs on Iran’s fortified Fordow nuclear site, during Iran-Israel conflict.
Three Iranian nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — were struck using the US Air Force’s B-2 Spirit stealth bombers.
Iran accused the US and Israel of jointly waging war against its people and said the attack violated the UN Charter and Resolution 2231. Iran said its nuclear research is for civilian energy production.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law prohibiting individuals from wearing clothing in public places that covers their faces, joining a trend in several Central Asian countries to restrict forms of Islamic dress.
The text of the law says clothing that “interferes with facial recognition” will be banned in public, with exemptions for medical purposes, in adverse weather conditions and at sporting and cultural events.
The legislation, one in a series of wider amendments signed into law on Monday, does not explicitly mention religion or types of religious dress.
Tokayev has previously praised the legislation as an opportunity to celebrate ethnic identity in Kazakhstan, a majority-Muslim country and former Soviet republic.
“Rather than wearing face-concealing black robes, it’s much better to wear clothes in the national style,” he was quoted by Kazakh media as saying earlier this year.
Read: Kyrgyz body backs ban on niqab
“Our national clothes vividly emphasise our ethnic identity, so we need to popularise them comprehensively.”
Other Central Asian countries have introduced similar laws in recent years.
Police in Kyrgyzstan have conducted street patrols to enforce their ban on the Islamic niqab face veil, according to local media reports.
In Uzbekistan, violating the niqab statute carries a fine of over $250. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed a ban on wearing clothing in public that is “alien to national culture.”
Clashes erupted in Istanbul with police firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a mob on Monday after allegations that a satirical magazine had published a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.
The clashes occurred after Istanbul’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of the editors at LeMan magazine on grounds it had published a cartoon that “publicly insulted religious values”.
The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, said the image had been misinterpreted.
“This cartoon is not a caricature of prophet Muhammad in any way,” he told Agence France-Presse. “In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in the bombardments of Israel is fictionalised as Muhammad. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Muhammad.
“[It] has nothing to do with prophet Muhammad. We would never take such a risk.”
As the news broke, several dozen angry protesters attacked a bar often frequented by LeMan staffers in downtown Istanbul, provoking angry scuffles with police, an AFP correspondent said.
The scuffles quickly became clashes involving between 250 to 300 people, the correspondent said.
Founded in 1991, LeMan is famed for its political satire and has long been the bane of conservatives, especially following its support for France’s Charlie Hebdo after its Paris offices were attacked in 2015 by Islamist gunmen who killed 12 following the magazine’s publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.
The interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on that X police had arrested the cartoonist responsible for the image as well as LeMan’s graphic designer.
“The person named DP who made this vile drawing has been caught and taken into custody,” he wrote, adding: “These shameless individuals will be held accountable before the law.”
Others named in the arrest warrant were LeMan’s editor-in-chief and its managing editor, media reports said.
In a string of posts on X, LeMan defended the cartoon and said it had been deliberately misinterpreted to cause a provocation.
“The cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel, he never intended to belittle religious values,” it said. “We do not accept the stigma imposed on us because there is no depiction of our prophet. It takes a very malicious person to interpret the cartoon in this way.”
“We apologise to our well-intentioned readers who we think were subjected to provocations.”
The justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, said an investigation had been opened on grounds of “publicly insulting religious values”.
“Disrespect towards our beliefs is never acceptable,” he wrote on X. “No freedom grants the right to make the sacred values of a belief the subject of ugly humour. The caricature or any form of visual representation of our prophet not only harms our religious values but also damages societal peace.”
Istanbul’s governor, Davut Gul, also lashed out at “this mentality that seeks to provoke society by attacking our sacred values”.
“We will not remain silent in the face of any vile act targeting our nation’s faith,” he said.
