Turkey condemns Quran burning in Sweden

ANKARA: Turkey had condemned the burning of the Muslim holy book Quran in Sweden, calling it a "heinous act".

In a series of tweets, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "I condemn the vile action in Sweden against our holy book, Quran, on the first day of the Eid al-Adha.

"It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression. To turn a blind eye to such heinous acts is to be complicit in them."

A person identified as Salwan Momika of Iraqi origin, burned the Quran under police protection in front of the Stockholm Mosque on Wednesday, according to media reports.

Momika, who came in front of the Stockholm Mosque in the Medbargareplatsen square, threw the Quran on the ground in front of the mosque, stepped on it, uttered insulting words against Islam and set it on fire despite the reaction of the people around, the reports said.

The incident has come at a time when Sweden is still seeking Turkey's backing to join the NATO.

The bid has still been blocked by the Turkish government, which accuses Sweden of supporting anti-Ankara groups.

The Nordic state has pledged to support Turkey's fight against terrorism and agreed to address Ankara's pending deportation or extradition requests for "terror" suspects.

But the Turkish parliament has not ratified the membership yet.

Also condemning the incident, the Turkish government’s Director of Communicaitons Fahrettin Altun added in a tweet: “We are sick and tired of enabling of Islamophobia and continued instances of hatred for our religion on the part of European authorities especially in Sweden.

“Those who seek to become our allies in NATO, cannot tolerate or enable destructive behaviors of Islamophobic and xenophobic terrorists."

Earlier this year, Turkish-Swedish relations suffered a major blow following a rally outside Stockholm’s Turkish Embassy during which an anti-immigration politician set a copy of the Quran ablaze.

The incident sparked anger in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.