UPDATE - Türkiye 'strongly' condemns hate crime against Quran in Denmark after Sweden

UPDATES WITH MORE OFFICIAL CONDEMNATIONS

By Faruk Zorlu and Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye on Friday strongly condemned a decision by authorities in Denmark to permit hate crimes against the Quran, the Muslim holy book, a week after a similar incident in Sweden.

"We condemn in the strongest terms that the hate crime committed in Sweden against our holy book, the Quran, was allowed to be committed again by the same Islamophobic charlatan in Denmark's capital Copenhagen today," said a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

"Tolerating such heinous acts that offend the sensitivities of millions of people in Europe threatens the practice of peaceful coexistence and incites racist, xenophobic and anti-Islamic attacks that take place every day somewhere in Europe," it added.

Despite Türkiye's repeated warnings to prevent such a "vile act" in Denmark after similar incidents in Sweden and the Netherlands, the ministry said that permitting the burning of the Quran was "alarming as it reveals the dangerous dimensions of religious intolerance and hatred in Europe by abusing the so-called environment of freedom."

The statement also reminded governments of their responsibilities and that remaining unresponsive marginalizes Muslims, "who are an integral part of European society."

Following the incident in Denmark, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter that Islamophobia "knows no boundaries" in Europe.

"Heinous attacks on our religion Islam & our Holy Book Quran can never cast a shadow on their sanctity.

"These hate crimes degrade those who commit or allow them. Seeds of hatred you sow will eventually poison your societies," Cavusoglu.

In another provocative act on Friday, far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in front of a mosque in Denmark.

Türkiye's top religious body Diyanet also condemned and cursed Paludan, as well as the Danish authorities who allowed him to burn the Quran.

"May the curse of Allah be upon him (Paludan). At the same time, I condemn and curse the administrators of the Danish state who permitted this lunatic, this enemy of humanity (to burn the Quran). Because, we know that they are acting against human rights," the head of Diyanet, Ali Erbas, told reporters in the northern province of Tokat.

Omer Celik, the spokesperson for Türkiye's Justice and Development (AK) Party, also strongly condemned the act.

Denmark allowed a "fascist to commit a hate crime" against the Muslim holy book, Celik said on Twitter.

"We strongly condemn it. Those who remain silent about the fascist takeover of Europe are destroying their own democracy," he added.

Friday's attack came a week after Paludan burned another copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Jan. 21 under police protection and with permission from the authorities, drawing a wave of condemnations from the Islamic world.

On Jan. 23, Edwin Wagensveld, a far-right Dutch politician and the leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, also tore out pages from a copy of the Quran in The Hague. Wagensveld's video on Twitter showed that he burned the torn-out pages of the holy book in a pan.