[Aljazeera] Le Point accuses the Turkish president of ethnic cleansing in northeastern Syria.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint against a French magazine after it accused him of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in northeastern Syria in a cover story entitled "The Eradicator".
State-owned Anadolu Agency said on Friday that Erdogan had asked prosecutors to open a case against Etienne Gernelle, the managing editor of Le Point magazine, and Romain Gubert, the author of the story.
Erdogan's lawyer Huseyin Aydin said the cover was "publicly insulting" to the president - a crime in Turkey carrying a prison sentence up to four years and eight months.
A source in the Ankara public prosecutor's office told AFP news agency that an investigation had been launched after the complaint.
Le Point's cover uses a photo of Erdogan giving a military salute with a tagline reading: "Ethnic cleansing, Erdogan style" and another asking "Will we let him massacre Kurds (and threaten Europe)?".