Turkish police raided a magazine on Monday over a mock 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.

The magazine said in a statement that 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.

"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.