[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] Turkish police raided a magazine on Monday over a mocked-up "selfie" of a smiling President Tayyip Erdogan with the coffin of a soldier - an allusion to comments that families of soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels could be happy about their martyrdom.An Istanbul prosecutor's office banned distribution of the latest edition of Nokta magazine and ordered raids on its offices over charges of "insulting the Turkish president" and "making terrorist propaganda", after the cover was published online, the magazine said in a statement.
"Our cover that prompted the police raid may be harsh, disturbing or even cruel. (But) these are not crimes for a media institution, this is our form of speech," the statement said.
The cover depicted a grinning Erdogan in shirt-sleeves taking a selfie, in the background a coffin draped in the red Turkish flag being borne along in state by soldiers.
The image was a clear reference to escalating violence between the state and Kurdish myrmidons, who have killed more than 100 security personnel in past weeks. But it is also an implicit criticism of comments Erdogan has made on military deaths.
Erdogan has been widely criticized for comments made at the funeral of one soldier killed in festivities.
"How happy is his family and all his close relatives, because Ahmet has reached a very sacred place," he was widely quoted as saying across Turkish national media.