Wide condemnation and denunciation was met with the crime of burning the Holy Quran by an extremist Danish group in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen. The UAE strongly condemned the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Denmark. In a statement today (Sunday), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation affirmed its permanent rejection of all practices aimed at undermining security and stability and contradicting human and moral values and principles. And she stressed the need to respect religious symbols and sanctities and to avoid incitement and polarization, at a time when the world needs to work together to spread the values of tolerance and coexistence, and reject hatred and extremism.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the incident, stressing that it is a "hate crime" and that it will never accept such "heinous acts that are permitted under the guise of freedom of expression." It called on the Danish authorities to take immediate action against the perpetrators, along with concrete measures to prevent further provocations that threaten social harmony and peaceful coexistence.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry denounced the extremists' burning of a copy of the Holy Qur'an and the Turkish flag in Copenhagen, in a new provocative step that would inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world, especially in the month of Ramadan.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry reiterated its country's principled and firm position calling for the necessity for the international community and the governments of the concerned countries to take responsibility for swift action to renounce feelings of hatred and extremism and work to stop these repeated abuses of the symbols and sanctities of Muslims and hold the perpetrators accountable.
It is noteworthy that the twentieth of March, the British authorities prevented the far-right Swedish Danish Security Minister, who threatened to burn a copy of the Koran during a visit to Yorkshire, from entering the United Kingdom.
According to the British authorities, Rasmus Paludan's name has been added to the "warning index" and "he will not be allowed to enter" the country. This is not the time that Paludan organizes several protests in which the Noble Qur’an was burned, and some of them led to violent counter-protests. Paludan was previously imprisoned in Denmark for his hateful and racist statements, as the authorities classify him as a dangerous man and should not be allowed to enter this country.
Last January, Paludan burned a copy of the Qur'an outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, which escalated into a diplomatic row between Turkey and Sweden.
On the eighth of March, after a similar move angered Turkey, which halted negotiations on Sweden's efforts to join NATO, Stockholm banned a demonstration that was expected to witness the burning of the Qur'an.
Okaz (Jeddah, Capitals) @okaz_online