The renewed burning of the Koran in Sweden has sparked outrage among Muslims worldwide. The Arab League called for countering “Islamophobic ideas”. The Turkish head of state Erdogan announced that he wanted to “react decisively”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has harshly condemned Sweden and the West as a whole for authorizing a protest that burned pages of the Koran. “We will ultimately teach the arrogant in the West that insulting Muslim sanctuaries has nothing to do with freedom of expression,” the Turkish leader said, according to the state news agency Anadolu. Turkey will react decisively until a “decisive victory against terrorist organizations and Islamophobia has been achieved”.
On Wednesday, the first day of the Islamic festival of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, an Iraqi burned some pages of the Koran in front of the Great Mosque in Stockholm.
Demonstrators in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad
The action also caused outrage in Iraq. People protested in front of the Swedish embassy in the capital Baghdad with raised copies of the Koran, as reported by the Iraqi state news agency INA. The influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr is said to have called for the protest.
Local media reported that the protesters had called for the Swedish ambassador to be expelled. Some are said to have managed to break through the gate to the Swedish embassy. According to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the embassy employees are safe. At the request of the dpa news agency, the ministry said it was in constant contact with them.
Violent reaction from Arab states
Other Arab states had previously reacted to the burning of the Koran. In a statement, the Arab League strongly condemned the Swedish authorities’ approval of the incineration. Sweden must oppose Islamophobic ideas and extremism instead of promoting them, it said.
In response to the “unacceptable act,” Morocco recalled its ambassador to Sweden for “consultation indefinitely,” local news agency MAP reported. The Moroccan Foreign Ministry also summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Rabat.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia said: “These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted under any justification.” They fueled hatred, exclusion and racism.
“Provoked feelings from Muslims around the world”
Muslim-majority Egypt expressed a similar sentiment. “The burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an by an extremist is a shameful act that provokes the feelings of Muslims around the world on the first day of Eid al-Adha,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said. In Jordan, the Swedish ambassador was summoned by the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah issued a statement calling on the Arab and Islamic governments to take steps to persuade other countries to “prevent the repetition of these follies on their soil and stop the spread of a culture of hatred.” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also condemned the move as “provocative” and “unacceptable”.