Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu denounced the Swedish authorities for allowing the leader of the Danish far-right "hard line" party, Rasmus Paludan, to burn a copy of the Holy Qur'an in the capital, Stockholm, and stressed that such crimes do not fall within the framework of freedom of expression.
Oglu said that they "do not allow the burning of books of other religions, but when it comes to the Holy Qur'an and hostility to Islam, they immediately invoke freedom of thought and expression."
The Turkish minister stressed that hate and racism crimes do not fall within the framework of freedom of thought and expression, whether according to Swedish laws or decisions of the Council of Europe or the European Court of Human Rights.
He pointed out that Turkey was quick to take the necessary steps as soon as it learned that the Swedish authorities had allowed the extremist in Al-Wadan to burn a copy of the Noble Qur’an in front of the Ankara embassy building in Stockholm.
Davutoglu indicated that the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara to the ministry's headquarters and issued the necessary warnings to him, explaining that the Turkish ambassador to Stockholm, Yonat Janzel, spoke directly with the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Bilstrom in this regard.
He expressed his hope that the Swedish authorities would take the necessary measures at the last minute and prevent this racist and hate crime from happening, which would cause outrage in the entire world.
Visit of the Swedish Minister of Defense
Turkey had previously announced the cancellation of a scheduled visit by the Swedish Defense Minister to Ankara on January 27, in protest against the decision to allow the burning of the Noble Qur’an, and what it described as Sweden’s inaction in the face of “provocations” by supporters of the PKK.
Fuad Oktay, the Turkish Vice President, also condemned the Swedish authorities' permission to burn a copy of the Holy Qur'an, and expressed in a tweet his strong condemnation of the provocative act in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
And the Swedish authorities allowed the extremist Rasmus Paludan to burn a copy of the Noble Qur’an in front of the Turkish embassy building in Stockholm.
The Stockholm Police Department stated that Paludan had obtained permission to organize a demonstration near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday.