Turkey summons Danish, Dutch diplomats over Quran desecrations

• Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned Danish and Dutch envoys over Quran desecration.
• Extremists exploited freedom of expression laws to vandalize Quran.
• Nordic countries are facing a surge in Islamophobic acts.

Turkey’s foreign ministry has summoned the Danish charge d’affaires and a Dutch envoy due to increasing incidents of the Holy Quran being desecrated by extremist protesters.

These protesters are exploiting freedom of expression laws in Denmark and the Netherlands.

Over the past few months, extremists with anti-Islam sentiments have vandalized or ruined multiple copies of the Quran, leading to anger in the Muslim world and demands for Nordic governments to criminalize such actions.

Particularly, demonstrations in Sweden have been strongly condemned by Turkey. Sweden is currently awaiting Turkey’s approval to join NATO. In response to these events, a series of Islamophobic acts have been reported in Nordic countries.

In a recent incident on Friday, a Dutch far-right activist deliberately tore up and trampled on a Quran during a protest near the Turkish embassy in The Hague.

These cases of Quran desecration have seen a significant increase in the region.