Reactions vary to a cartoon published in Charlie Hebdo about the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria. The caricature looks to make fun of the disaster, which claimed the lives of thousands of people.
The satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo released a cartoon making fun of the tragic earthquake that claimed hundreds of lives in Turkey and Syria, which incited outrage on social media.
On Monday, the magazine tweeted a link to the cartoon created by Pierrick Juin. The image’s caption reads, “Earthquake in Turkey.”
The cartoon, which depicts piles of debris and crumbling structures, is captioned, “Don’t even need to deploy tanks!”
The cartoon has drawn harsh criticism from many users who feel it trivialises the tragic earthquake that has killed at least 20,000 people and left many homeless.
A US-based Muslim scholar named Dr. Omar Suleiman denounced the cartoon for glorifying the catastrophe and dubbed the French magazine a “despicable publication.”
The “top of how France has dehumanised us in every manner” is mocking the deaths of thousands of Muslims, the speaker continued.
Users on Twitter expressed their outrage over the cartoon and called Charlie Hebdo a “disgrace to mankind” for publishing it in Turkish, French, and English.
Twitter users dubbed the cartoon “racist” and claimed it encouraged hate speech.
Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for the Turkish president, also responded to the illustration. Barbarians of today, he tweeted. “Suffocate in your animosity and resentments.”
Interpretations
According to DW News, the satirical cartoon can be read as a criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s actions against Kurdish militias in northern Syria, which correlates to the earthquake-affected areas.
According to the German news agency, the cartoon may also be read as a veiled allusion to Europe’s exports of weaponry. International debate has centred on Germany’s reluctance to send tanks to Ukraine.
Germany gave Turkey, a NATO partner, hundreds of tanks in the 1990s with the one stipulation that Turkey not sell or give them to any other party. According to DW News, Turkey later employed those tanks in a military campaign in 2018 against Kurds in northern Syria.
Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine, is well known for its controversial and provocative artwork.
The magazine had a blasphemous caricature on the cover in 2013. Italy earthquake.
