Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Protest against Turki and refuse Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) marked by the burning of copies or imitations of the Koran in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday (21/10).
The demonstration was staged by a Swedish right-wing group near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. It is known that Turkey wants to encourage Sweden to become a member of NATO.
The act of burning a copy of the Koran in front of its embassy in Stockholm was also strongly protested by the Turkish Government.
“We condemn in the strongest terms this heinous attack on our Holy Scriptures… Allowing this anti-Islamic act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Turkey as quoted from Reuters.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry then urged the Swedish government to take the necessary measures against the arsonists, and invited all countries to take concrete steps against Islamophobia.
A number of Arab countries have also made statements regarding the burning of copies of the Koran. One of them is Saudi Arabia. In its official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia stated, “Calls to spread the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence, and reject hatred and extremism.”
Responding to this, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said the provocation of Islamophobia was terrible.
“Sweden has broad freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean that the Swedish Government, or myself, support the opinions expressed,” Billstrom said via his Twitter account.
Rasmus Paludan, a Danish citizen who is the leader of the right-wing political party, Hard Line, burned copies of the Koran during the demonstration. Paludan, who has Swedish citizenship, is also known to have in a number of demonstrations in the past also burned Al-Qurans several times.
There has been no direct statement from Paludan, but through notification of permission for the demonstration to the Swedish police, Paludan claimed his protest was carried out over efforts by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to influence freedom of expression in the country.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, Turkey, hundreds of demonstrators burned the Swedish flag in front of the country’s consulate in response to the burning of copies of the Koran in Stockholm.
(Reuters/kid)