ANKARA (Middle East Eye) – French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has sparked outrage on social media after it published a cartoon appearing to make light of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that killed thousands in Turkey and Syria.
The drawing by Pierrick Juin showed teetering buildings amid heaps of rubble with the caption: “No need to send tanks.”
Social media users said the cartoon mocked the tragedy that impacted millions of people across the two countries and called the drawing “disgusting”, “shameful”, “revolting” and akin to “hate speech”.
A woman by the name of Sara Assaf responded by saying that she was withdrawing her support for the magazine. “Je ne suis plus Charlie” (I am no longer Charlie), she wrote, in reference to the slogan “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) adopted by supporters of the outlet after the January 7, 2015 attack on their office.
“The most disgusting thing I’ve ever read in a while. Posting provoking content so you get free publicity, whilst hiding behind the freedom-of-speech-card,” Twitter user Sumi wrote.
“The moral depravity of #charliehebdo is simply beyond utter disgust & horror at such an insensitivity about human suffering,” wrote Huda Mzioudet, another Twitter user.
Some social media users said the cartoon was indicative of “European audacity” concerning freedom of speech.
“The European audacity to come and lecture us about freedom of expression whereas this is what they think freedom of expression is,” Twitter user Simo said.
Twitter users called on the platform and its owner Elon Musk to delete the magazine’s “racist” account.
The French magazine has a long history of publishing derogatory and sacrilegious cartoons in the name of freedom of expression.
Back in September 2020, it republished blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) that were first released in 2015, sparking anger and outrage across the Muslim world.
The measure led to a deadly attack on January 7, 2015, which claimed the lives of 12 people, including eight staff of Charlie Hebdo.