ISTANBUL (AP) – Two students have been arrested in Turkey accused of inciting hatred and insulting religious values for a poster depicting the holiest site in Islam with LGBT flags.
His arrest on Saturday afternoon came after top Turkish officials clashed with the poster, displayed in an exhibition at Bogazici’s most prestigious University in Turkey. For weeks, students and teachers have been protesting the appointment of the Turkish president of a new rector who has ties to his ruling party and there have been clashes with police.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu tweeted that “LGBT perverts” had been arrested for “disrespecting the Great Kaaba.” Senior government officials of Turkey’s Islamic Conservative ruling party condemned the cartel. The spokesman for the strong secular and opposition party also criticized the artwork as a provocation and called it an attack on sacred values.
His statements came after the university’s Islamic research club crashed into the poster on social media, prompting people to go on Twitter with hashtags denouncing the poster, LGBT people and the university. The country’s director of religious affairs, who previously caused a stir by saying homosexuality causes disease and was defended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he was criticized, said he would take legal action.
The Kaaba in Mecca is the holiest site in Islam, with believers from all over the world praying in its direction.
The poster placed a mythical half-woman, half-snake creature found in Middle Eastern folklore in the place of worship along with the flags of LGBT, lesbian, trans and asexual people. The following text said that the play was a critique of traditional gender roles.
The Istanbul governor’s office said five people were initially detained and police were looking for two more suspects. One person was released, two were arrested at home and two were jailed pending trial.
Police searched the fine arts and LGBTI + student clubs at the university. The statement says police found books about an illegal Kurdish group and rainbow flags.
Melih Bulu, the rector in protest, has tweeted that an attack on Islamic values was unacceptable and had no place in university values.
Student group Bogazici Solidarity said the exhibition of more than 300 works of art was in part to protest the new rector and acknowledged that Muslim students had problems with the poster.
“All works of art are open to criticism. But testing art is simply a restriction on freedom of expression, ”he said. The group emphasized the value of pluralism in the university and said hate speech based on sexual orientation and gender identity was unacceptable.
The university’s LGBTI + group tweeted that they were with their friends and said they rejected the new rector “who led his own students.”