Two students were arrested in Turkey on charges that they insulted Islam by depicting LGBT rainbow flags on the Islamic holy sites in a poster, the Associated Press reported.
Turkish officials rebuked the poster, which shows a mythical half-woman and half-snake and LGBT flags on the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam, located in Saudi Arabia, the AP reported.
The depiction was displayed as part of an art exhibit meant to protest Melih Bulu, a new rector at Bogazici University. Students and academics protested Bulu’s appointment to the role in January, calling for his resignation because he was “state-appointed” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, thus violating “academic freedom” and democratic values. (RELATED: France Recalls Ambassador From Turkey After President Erdogan Insulted President Macron Over Fight Against ‘Radical Islamism’)
Shocking scenes of police blockade today of Istanbul’s #BogaziciUniversity, where students have been leading peaceful protests for weeks against govt-chosen rector https://t.co/K0XVFtZQX7
— Vanessa H. Larson (@vanessahlarson) February 1, 2021
Bir grup kendini bilmez tarafından İslamiyetin kutsallarına saldırı hiç bir şekilde kabul edilebilir değildir. Bunun Boğaziçi değerlerinde asla yeri yoktur. Bu şuursuz saldırıdan sorumlu olanlar hakkında kapsamlı soruşturma başlatılmıştır.
— melih bulu (@melihbulu) January 30, 2021
Bulu tweeted that an attack on Islamic values was unacceptable and had no place at the university. Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that “LGBT perverts” had been detained for “disrespecting the Great Kaaba,” according to the AP. The country’s secular opposition party spokesman also condemned the poster as an attack on holy values.
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi’nde Kabe-i Muazzama’ya yapılan saygısızlığı gerçekleştiren 4 LGBT sapkını gözaltına alındı!
— Süleyman Soylu | Maske???? Mesafe↔️ Temizlik???? (@suleymansoylu) January 29, 2021
The student group Bogazici Solidarity said that it acknowledged the posted had offended Muslim students.
“All artwork is open for criticism. But putting art on trial is simply a restriction of the freedom of expression,” their statement read, according to the AP. It added that hate speech based on sexual orientation and gender identity was unacceptable.
Police searched the university’s fine arts and LGBT student clubs and found books on an outlawed Kurdish group and rainbow flags, according to the AP. Five people were initially detained and two more suspects were being sought, Istanbul authorities said, according to the AP. Two people are jailed pending trial, while two others are under house arrest.
Almost 100 protestors have taken into custody in Izmir and Istanbul. Now we’re waiting at the campus for the kayyum to come out and give an account for the arrests. pic.twitter.com/RZFV9B7Jki
— Resist Bogazici (@resistBU) February 1, 2021
Although homosexuality is not banned in Turkey, Erdogan’s government has banned LGBTQ parades and other events. He supported the country’s lead Muslim cleric after he said that homosexuality “brings disease and causes this generation to decay,” according to NBC. Erdogan said criticism of the cleric had turned into a “deliberate attack against Islam.”