Ankara slams anti-Islam, anti-Türkiye protests in Denmark
ANKARA
Türkiye has strongly condemned the burning of Quran and the Turkish flag in a protest in Denmark and called on the Danish authorities to take necessary actions against the perpetrators of this “vile attack.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms the vile attack targeting our holy book, the Quran, and our glorious flag in Denmark on the afternoon of March 24,” read a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry over the weekend.
“Giving permission to this heinous act, which is a hate crime, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,” it said, recalling that the incident took place during Ramadan, a holy month for billions of Muslims.
“This act, which was carried out during Ramadan, has once again clearly revealed that Islamophobia, discrimination and xenophobia have reached an alarming level in Europe and that no lessons have been learned from the past,” it said.
Ankara called on Denmark “to take necessary actions against the perpetrators of this hate crime and to take concrete measures in order to prevent such provocations which target social peace and culture of peaceful coexistence.”
Similar incidents took place in the past weeks first in Sweden and the Netherlands. Türkiye has criticized both nations strongly for permitting such anti-Islam incidents.
In the meantime, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Ömer Çelik strongly condemned the attack against the Quran and the Turkish flag in separate Twitter messages.
