Norway withdraws permission for Quran burning after Türkiye's warning

By Dildar Baykan Atalay

ANKARA (AA) – Norway cancelled its permission to burn the Quran, Islam's holy book, after Ankara warned against it, Türkiye’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

Speaking at an event in the Turkish capital Ankara, Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the acceleration of globalization and change has lead to some outcomes in humanity such as an erosion of national identities and a loss of language consciousness.

It has also led to hate crimes, Islamophobia, racism, xenophobia, intolerance, and discrimination, he added.

"You saw what happened in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. The same thing was going to happen in Norway. Today, we summoned the Norwegian ambassador. And they withdrew the permission they granted,” Cavusoglu said.

"Crime against humanity is not freedom of expression. This is a hate crime. Hate is not freedom of expression," the top diplomat stressed.

Earlier on Thursday, Türkiye summoned Norwegian Ambassador in Ankara, Erling Skjonsberg, over plans to desecrate the holy Quran in the Scandinavian country on Friday.

Skjonsberg was told that Ankara "strongly condemn Norway's approach not to prevent the planned provocative act, which is clearly a hate crime, this attitude is unacceptable and we expect this act not to be allowed," according to the Turkish diplomatic sources.

Last week, Türkiye summoned the ambassadors of Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark in Ankara over incidents related to burning the Quran.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan