Turkey summons Danish ambassador
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Turkey summoned Denmark's ambassador on Friday to denounce Copenhagen for allowing a far-right extremist to burn Quran.
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Women shout slogans during a protest outside the Swedish consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023 (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Turkey summoned Denmark's ambassador on Friday to denounce Copenhagen for allowing a far-right extremist to burn Quran, in response to Ankara's refusal to allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
Rasmus Paludan, a Danish-Swedish anti-islam activist, first set fire to a copy of the holy Quran near a mosque in the Danish capital before setting fire to another copy outside the Turkish embassy.
Read more: Paludan vows burning Quran weekly until Turkey approves Swedish bid
Turkey had postponed the planned trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland in regard to NATO accession after the Swedish police permitted Paludan to hold a similar protest in Stockholm.
The French and US embassies in Ankara alerted their nationals to a higher risk of retaliatory attacks in Turkey.
Read more: Ankara to hold Quran reverence outside Turkish embassy in Stockholm
"In the wake of recent Quran-burning incidents in Europe, the US government cautions its citizens of possible retaliatory attacks by terrorists against places of worship in Turkey," said the US embassy.
"Terrorists could attack with little or no warning, targeting places of worship or places Westerners frequent," the embassy added, urging people to stay alert and avoid crowds.
Additionally, the French embassy in Turkey warned French ex-pats to be "highly vigilant" in an email that also emphasized the US advisories.
According to a diplomatic Turkish source, the Danish ambassador was called to protest his nation's "unacceptable" response to Paludan's desecration of the Quran.
We strongly condemn the decision to grant permission for this provocative act, which clearly constitutes a hate crime," the Turkish diplomat said.
Following a series of provocative moves against Turkey, which included granting permission for the leader of the Danish party to burn a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, as well as the pro-Kurdish protest where a doll representing Erdogan was hanged in Stockholm, Swedish diplomatic relations with Ankara have fallen to all-time lows.
As such, Sweden's bid for NATO membership is facing a dead end as ties have recently grown increasingly strained with Turkey.
The desecration of the Quran was widely condemned by religious institutions across the Islamic world from Al Azhar in Egypt to Sayed Ali Khamenei in Iran.
Paludan seems to have inspired a trend of Quran desecration. Two days ago a Dutch extremist ripped the holy book in the Hague.
In Denmark, unlike Sweden, Paludan does not require permission to carry out these acts but must inform the authorities 24 hours in advance.
