We strongly condemn the disrespect for our holy book, the Holy Quran, in a
demonstration organized by an anti-Islamic organization on 16 November 2019
in Kristiansand, Norway. We expect that such actions to be prevented and
those who are responsible to be brought to justice as soon as possible.
We are deeply concerned about the recent rise of discrimination against
Muslims, hatred against Islam and attacks on mosques in Western European
countries.
Islamophobia and xenophobia becoming ever more alarming recently is an
issue that needs to be tackled immediately.
Racist and extreme right rhetoric, social media messages shared by certain
politicians are inciting these tendencies and constitute the ideological
infrastructure of these kind of insulting attacks against our religion.
These attacks are not only aimed at Muslims, but also pose a threat to all
humanity. On this occasion, we repeat our call to the international
community to work together to completely remove this virus that threatens
the entire world.
It is important that the UN resolution on "Combating terrorism and other
acts of violence based on religion or belief" is implemented by all member
countries. Turkey will continue to lead the international efforts in this
direction.