Saudi Arabia strongly denounces Sweden’s Qur’an burning
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemned, on Saturday, the Swedish authorities’ permission to organize a far-right demonstration that witnessed the burning of a copy of the Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “the Kingdom’s strong condemnation and denunciation of Sweden’s authorities’ allowing an extremist to burn a copy of the Holy Qur’an in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Stockholm.”
The Saudi Foreign Ministry affirmed “the Kingdom’s firm position calling for the importance of spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejecting hatred and extremism.”
In footage circulated on social networks, on Saturday, Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right Stram Course (narrow line), appeared to burn a copy of the Qur’an during a demonstration against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in front of the Turkish embassy.
Turkey cancels the visit of the Swedish Defense Minister due to Stockholm’s permission for the “Burning of the Qur’an” demonstration.
On Saturday, the official Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that Turkey had canceled the upcoming visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Johnson to the country after the Swedish police had permitted the burning of a Quran during a protest in the Swedish capital.
Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling told CNN that a far-right Danish citizen recorded the demonstration at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday as “a demonstration against Islam in Sweden by burning the Quran and a demonstration against Recep Erdogan (as well),” as stated in the application Pretend.
Earlier, on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “Such crimes do not fall within the framework of freedom of thought and expression.”
Davutoglu announced, in press statements, that his ministry had summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara to the ministry’s headquarters and issued the necessary warnings to him.
Oglu added, “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.”
