The Turkish Foreign Ministry in a written statement on Monday condemned the burning of a Quran outside the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen as “vile” and “outrageous,” according to local media.
Protesters from an ultranationalist organization known as the “Danish Patriots” stomped on the Quran and set it alight while live-streaming their action on Facebook, replicating previous incidents carried out by various groups in neighboring Sweden.
The same group also staged a similar demonstration last week.
The ministry said in a written statement released on its website on Monday that it condemns in the strongest terms the “repeated vile attacks against our holy book, the Quran” in Copenhagen.
The ministry added that the Danish authorities must act in line with their international responsibilities and take the necessary measures to prevent such “outrageous acts” that incite hatred against the religion of Islam and billions of believers.
After last week’s incident, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen condemned it as an act of “stupidity” by a few individuals.
“It is a disgraceful act to insult the religion of others. … It has no other purpose than to provoke and create division,” he told national broadcaster DR, noting, however, that burning religious books was not a crime in Denmark.
The Quran burnings have triggered protests in several Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan.
On July 22 a large group of protesters in Iraq attempted to storm Baghdad’s Green Zone, a highly secured area that hosts foreign embassies and Iraqi government facilities, with hundreds participating in the demonstration.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the government summoned the Danish ambassador and the Swedish chargé d’affaires to condemn the continuation of the attacks on the Quran.
The statement also emphasized that the protests attacking the Quran cannot be allowed under the pretext of freedom of expression, that they are incompatible with the values of tolerance and coexistence and that they fuel hatred and Islamophobia.