ISTANBUL — Prosecutors in Istanbul have opened an investigation into Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet for publishing excerpts from French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Turkish television stations said on Thursday. Cumhuriyet, a staunchly secular opposition newspaper, was raided by police on Wednesday for printing parts of Charlie Hebdo in an insert, one of five international editions of the satirical newspaper.
Turkey is a Muslim-majority country and many Muslims consider depictions of Muhammad to be blasphemous. However, it is not illegal to publish pictures of Muhammad in Turkey. Muslim clerics in the Middle East have denounced last week's attack on Charlie Hebdo but criticised the weekly for publishing new cartoons depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammad in its first issue after the killings.
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