Indonesia, Turkey summon Sweden envoys over desecration
Indonesia summoned Sweden's envoy on Tuesday over the desecration incident by a farright activist in Stockholm at the weekend, officials in the world's most populous Muslimmajority nation said.
Swedish-Danish politician Rasmus Paludan on Saturday torched a copy of the Islamic holy book in front of Turkey's embassy in the Swedish capital, stoking the anger of Ankara which said it would not support the Scandinavian country's bid for NATO membership.
Sweden's ambassador to Indonesia, Marina Berg, was summoned as Jakarta lodged an official complaint against the anti-Islamic act, Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah told AFP.
"Yes, [we will meet her] within this week," Faizasyah said, without disclosing a date. The Swedish embassy confirmed Berg would hold a meeting with an official from Indonesia's foreign ministry, without specifying the day it would take place.
Swedish leaders have roundly condemned Paludan's actions but defended their country's broad definition of free speech. Paludan's desecration sparked rallies outside Swedish missions in several countries, including Turkey and Iraq, where protesters torched the Swedish flag on Monday and a policeman and seven protesters were injured.
Meanwhile, Turkey summoned the Dutch ambassador to express its deep displeasure with an anti-Islam protest in The Hague. The Turkish foreign ministry said it condemned "in the strongest possible terms the vile attack of an antiIslamic person" in the Dutch city on Sunday.
The Dutch public broadcaster NOS said Edwin Wagensveld, who heads the Dutch chapter of the German anti-Islam group Pegida, tore pages out of the Muslim holy book during a one-man protest. Images on social media also showed him walking on the torn pages of the holy book. The summons came days after a similar protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm threatened to sink Sweden's ambitions to join the NATO defence bloc. Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday in a statement that it summoned the Dutch ambassador in Ankara over 'vile attack' on Qur'an in Hague.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack of an anti-Islamic person in The Hague, Netherlands, on January 22, targeting our holy book, the Qur'an," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This despicable act, which, after Sweden, took place this time in the Netherlands, insulting our sacred values and containing a hate crime, is a clear declaration that Islamophobia, discrimination and xenophobia know no bounds in Europe," it added.
These actions directly target the fundamental rights and freedoms, moral values and social tolerance of not only Muslims but all humanity and it also harms the culture of living together in peace, the statement stressed.
Ambassador Joep Wijnands was told that Türkiye condemns "the heinous and despicable act," and demands that the Netherlands do not allow such "provocative acts."
"We expect the Dutch authorities to take necessary actions against the perpetrator of the incident and to implement concrete measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," it added.
Meanwhile, The Caucasus Muslims' Board on Tuesday strongly condemned the burning of a copy of Islam's holy book Quran in Sweden's capital Stockholm on Saturday.
"Under the official permission and patronage of the Swedish state, the head of the ultra-right Hard Line (Stram Kurs) party, as well as the leader of the Pegia group in the Netherlands, attacked the Islamic religion under the slogan of democracy and freedom of expression in Stockholm," said a statement.