Turkey has summoned the Danish ambassador to Ankara to express its strong condemnation and protest against the "repetition of the hate crime against the Koran and the flag of its country" in Denmark, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
On Friday afternoon, an extremist and Islamophobic group burned the Turkish flag and the Koran in front of Ankara's embassy in Copenhagen.
The attack was carried out by five members of a group called Patriots Live in Denmark, which was broadcast live on the group's Facebook account.
The attackers also carried banners and chanted anti-Islamic slogans, as well as burning the Turkish flag.
On March 24, the Koran and the Turkish flag were also attacked in front of Ankara's embassy in Copenhagen.
Turkey's foreign ministry said it condemned "in the strongest terms" the re-authorization of "the crime of hatred against our holy book, the Holy Quran, and our glorious flag today (Friday) during the month of Ramadan."
She stressed that she in no way accepts the inclusion of this "despicable act in the name of freedom of expression", and that this approach cannot be justified.
The inadequacy of legal and administrative measures to prevent such acts, the lack of political will, as well as impunity for perpetrators, encouraged new provocations.
That action was clear evidence of the recent rise in Islamophobia, xenophobia, discrimination and racism in Europe.
Such acts stemming from hate crimes, according to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, are an attack on all those who believe in tolerance, a culture of peaceful coexistence and democratic values.
The inability to see those facts and to turn a blind eye to such acts was a grave recklessness.
It noted that it had summoned the Danish ambassador and had communicated to him its condemnation and protest against what it described as a despicable attack.