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ANKARA: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday urged Denmark to take urgent action to prevent incidents of burning of the Holy Quran.
In a phone call with his Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Fidan condemned the “continuous vile attacks against the Quran”.
He told Rasmussen it was unacceptable to allow such actions under the guise of freedom of expression, the source said.
Rasmussen wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter: “Turkey and Denmark are close allies. Important to not let these acts succeed in creating division.” He also reiterated Denmark’s “strong condemnation of these provocative acts by few individuals.”
The comments came after a small group of anti-Islam activists set fire to the Holy Quran in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in Copenhagen after similar protests in Denmark and Sweden over recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia summoned Denmark’s charge d’affaires over recent burnings of the Quran in Copenhagen.
The Danish diplomat was handed a memo that “includes a demand from the kingdom to stop the disgraceful acts that violate all religious teachings, laws and international norms,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The kingdom’s protest comes after far-right activists carried out a number of public burnings of Islam’s holy book over the past week in front of the Iraqi, Egyptian, and Turkish embassies in the Danish capital. Activists have also burned copies of the Quran in Sweden in recent weeks.
The public burnings in the Scandinavian countries have sparked widespread anger across the Muslim world, with countries including Qatar, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Yemen lodging protests in response.
Saudi Arabia last week summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires to condemn the desecration of the Quran in that country.
Iraq earlier this month expelled the Swedish ambassador shortly after Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy before setting the building on fire.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) earlier this month approved a resolution on religious hatred and bigotry following the burnings.
Pakistan and other Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries backed the motion, along with a number of non-Muslim majority countries including India and Vietnam.
The United States and the European Union opposed the resolution on the grounds it interfered with freedom of expression.
