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Turkiye summons Danish Ambassador over burning of Holy Quran copy

ISTANBUL, Jan 27 (KUNA) -- The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in Danish Ambassador to Ankara Danny Annan for permitting right-wing activists to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen.
The Ministry learned that "this provocative act was allowed by the authorities in Denmark" earlier Friday, diplomatic sources told Anadolu Agency (AA).
"It conveyed to the ambassador that we strongly condemn the permission of this provocative act, which clearly constitutes a hate crime," the sources said, noting this attitude of Denmark is "unacceptable." The Ministry emphasized the need of Danish authority to prevent recurrence of such acts in the future, they added.
Today's act followed a similar provocation last Saturday by Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Swedish-Danish politician, who tore and burnt pages of the Holy Quran during a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm under permission from the Swedish authorities.
Angered by "the heinous act," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considered Sweden complicit and warned that Sweden should not expect Turkiye's backing to its bid to join NATO. (end) ta.gb