Türkiye warns of dangerous dimensions of religious intolerance in Europe

Türkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a strongly-worded statement criticising the desecration of the Quran in Europe in the guise of “freedom of speech”.

The statement defines the burning and tearing of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, as a “hate crime” and says Türkiye condemns “in the strongest terms” the acts that have been committed in Sweden, the Netherlands, and finally, in Denmark today.

Referring to Rasmus Paludan, the extremist who burns the Quran on a regular basis to provoke Muslims, as the “Islam-hating charlatan” who committed these acts of sacrilege, Türkiye says Ankara is worried about “the dangerous dimensions of religious intolerance and hatred in Europe.” 

“Europe tolerating such heinous acts that offend the sensitivities of millions of people” threaten “the practice of peaceful coexistence” while at the same time provoking “racist, xenophobic and anti-Islamic attacks” that are an everyday occurrence in Europe, the statement said.

It also criticised governments “that remain unresponsive” in the face of such actions that “marginalise Muslims who are an integral part of European society” and asked them not to show support as "the universal values they claim to defend are trampled underfoot”.

READ MORE: Protests across Middle East over burning of Quran in Sweden

Ankara summons Danish ambassador

Türkiye summoned Danish Ambassador to Ankara Danny Annan over the permission to burn the Muslim holy book Quran,  diplomatic sources said on Friday.

"The Danish Ambassador in Ankara has just been summoned to our Ministry after it was learned that an attack against our holy book, the Quran, was allowed in Denmark today (Jan. 27)," the sources added.

"It was conveyed to the ambassador that we strongly condemn the permission of this provocative act, which clearly constitutes a hate crime, and that this attitude of Denmark is unacceptable," they added.

Also, "it is emphasised that we expect the said act not to be allowed," it said.

Friday's attack came a week after Rasmus Paludan, an extreme-right Swedish-Danish politician, on January 21 burned a copy of Islam's holy book, the Quran, outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, under police protection and with permission from the authorities, drawing a wave of condemnations from across the world.

On Friday, he replicated the stunt in front of a mosque, as well as the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen, and vowed to continue every Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO.

On January 22, Edwin Wagensveld, a far-right Dutch politician and the leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, tore out pages from a copy of the Quran in The Hague. Wagensveld's video on Twitter showed that he burned the torn-out pages of the holy book in a pan.

READ MORE: What Islam says about responding to haters