The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned the burning yesterday of copies of the Holy Quran and the Turkish flag by a Danish extremist group in front of the Ankara embassy in the capital Copenhagen.

The ministry said in a statement: "We condemn in the strongest terms the despicable attack on our holy book, the Holy Quran, and our glorious flag in Denmark."

The statement stressed that allowing such practices in the name of freedom of expression is categorically unacceptable, noting that Turkey expressed its strong criticism and protest to the Danish authorities following the incident.

Supporters of an extremist group called Patriots Live yesterday burned the Turkish flag and the Holy Quran in front of the Ankara embassy in the Danish capital, where the attack was broadcast live on the group's Facebook account.

The attackers also held anti-Islamic banners and chanted slogans offensive to Islam.

It is noteworthy that on January 21, the leader of the far-right Danish "hard line" party, Rasmus Paludan, burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, and this was done amid tight protection from the police, who prevented anyone from approaching him while committing that provocative act.

Days later, Paludan burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen and in front of a mosque.

Edwin Wagensfeld, leader of the anti-Islam extremist group Pegida in the Netherlands, tore up a copy of the Koran in front of the Dutch parliament building.

The abuses caused a stir in the Muslim world, with Turkey calling them a "provocative act" classified as "hate crimes" and accusing the Swedish government of being an "accomplice" in the arson incident, further complicating Stockholm's bid to join NATO, a move Ankara opposes.

The Swedish authorities decided in mid-February to refuse to give a new permission to a person who applied to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in the capital, Stockholm.

Stockholm police explained that incidents of burning copies of the Koran have increased and are likely to increase further in the future, and as a result of the assessment of developments related to Swedish interests, the decision was taken not to grant permission.