Türkiye summons Danish ambassador over Quran-burning
ANKARA
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned Denmark’s Ambassador to Türkiye Danny Annan after Danish authorities permitted a provocative protest “involving an attack against the holy book of Quran” on Jan. 27, Foreign Ministry sources have said.
The ministry conveyed to the ambassador that Türkiye“strongly condemns” Denmark for allowing this “provocative act, which constitutes a hate crime, and that this attitude of Denmark is unacceptable,” said the sources who wanted to remain anonymous.
Türkiye expects Denmark “not to allow the act” of the far-right politician planned in Copenhagen on Jan. 27.
Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish far-right political party Hard Line, announced on his Instagram on Jan. 26 that he would burn a copy of the Quran again, this time in front of a mosque in Dortheavej on Friday.
Paludan burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Jan. 21. Türkiye postponed a trilateral mechanism meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bid after the incident. In response to Sweden’s “permission to the provocation,” Ankara has canceled Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson’s upcoming visit to Türkiye.
In a separate incident, Türkiye summoned Dutch Ambassador to Türkiye Joep Wijnands over “a vile attack” on the Quran in The Hague and conveyed Ankara’s condemnation, the Foreign Ministry said on Jan. 24.
A video posted on social media showed Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of the far-right group Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), tearing apart pages of the Quran in The Hague.
