Northern Syria: removal of Turkish textbooks with illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad

A woman and a child in Jarablos, Syria, in 2016 (photo illustration).

© AP Photo

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Syrian authorities, in an area under Turkish control, have decided to withdraw religious textbooks with illustrations depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Residents of the town of Jarablos, near the Turkish border, burned all copies of the manual they could find on Thursday.

In other areas controlled by Ankara, including the town of Al-Bab, locals had warned that they would organize protests if the textbooks were not removed.

Turkish authorities condemned the incident.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul,

The anger provoked by these images of the Prophet Muhammad in textbooks embarrasses Turkish officials. The books were distributed to children in schools in northern Syria, in areas administered by Turkey,

.

Thus, the private publishing house which printed these religious textbooks did so under the control of the Turkish Ministry of National Education. In a press release, however, this publishing house exonerates the ministry of all responsibility, presents its " 

 ", " 

 " and blames the graphic designer, who according to it would have added the offending drawing after the manual had already been checked by the ministry.

The prefecture of

, bordering the Syrian district of Al-Bab, for its part announced the opening of an investigation into this incident described as " 

 ".

In Turkey, an officially secular country, but with a large Muslim majority, the publication of cartoons representing the prophet of Islam is equally condemned and could lead to criminal prosecution for those responsible.

► Read also: The post of grand mufti abolished by a decree of Bashar al-Assad

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