Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu: Norway banned the Koran burning rally after summoning the ambassador
The Norwegian authorities banned a planned rally on Friday, at which it was supposed to desecrate the Koran, after summoning the kingdom’s ambassador to Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry earlier summoned the Norwegian ambassador in connection with the planned action on the desecration of the Koran on Friday and protested to him, wishing that the country’s authorities prevented the action.
“We summoned the Norwegian ambassador after learning about the planned action to desecrate the Holy Quran. After that, they canceled the permit for the action,” the minister said at an event in Ankara, broadcast on Twitter.
The Prosecutor General’s Office in the Turkish capital earlier launched an investigation into incidents involving the desecration of the Koran by far-right activists in Sweden and Denmark. An investigation has been launched against the leader of the Danish far-right party “Hard Course” Rasmus Paludan, who on January 21 burned the Koran at the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, having previously received permission from the Swedish authorities to hold an action, and on January 27 he held an action with the burning of the holy book of Muslims at the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen and at a mosque in the Danish capital. A similar action was held at the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen. The Russian diplomatic mission condemned such actions.
The actions of the leader of the right-wing radical movement Pegida, Edwin Wagensveld, who staged a rally in The Hague on Monday, tearing out several pages from the Koran, then burned them, will also be investigated.
Ankara earlier called on the authorities of a number of European countries, which have not yet spoken out on this issue, to respond to the actions marginalizing Muslims.
