Turkey, Brazil, Sweden to meet on faith insults

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Carl Bildt is expected to represent Sweden in the İzmir meeting. AFP photo

Turkey has invited the foreign ministers of Brazil and Sweden to the annual gathering of Turkish ambassadors Jan. 2 to 9 in İzmir to discuss a joint initiative to prevent assaults against sacred values.

Turkey stepped up for the initiative at the U.N. General Assembly in September following the outrage over an anti-Islam film called the “Innocence of Muslims,” which led to killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Unidentified armed men had stormed the grounds during uproar among Muslims over the U.S.-produced film said to insult the Prophet Muhammad.

The initiative, “three soft powers from three continents,” also aims to secure diplomats in foreign missions by taking more precautions against the terrorist threats faced by them. Foreign ministers Antonio de Aguiar Patriota of Brazil and Carl Bildt of Sweden have been invited to the January meeting to continue work on the project.

Diplomats of the three countries in New York have started working on the documents for the initiative, which they expect to present to the U.N. in 2013.