Enlarge image
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (here recently in Washington)
PHOTO: LEAH MILLIS / REUTERS
Turkey's foreign minister summoned the Dutch ambassador to Ankara after an Islamophobic activist tore up a Koran in The Hague.
The Foreign Ministry said it "condemns in the strongest possible terms this heinous and vile act" and demands that the Netherlands "do not allow such provocative acts".
On Sunday, a representative of the Dutch branch of Germany's Islamophobic Pegida movement was filmed alone near the Dutch parliament, tearing pages from a copy of the Koran and then trampling on it.
However, the police prevented him from burning the Koran, public broadcaster NOS reported.
On Sunday, a public burning of the Koran by right-wing extremist politician Rasmus Paludan in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm sparked outrage in Turkey and other Muslim countries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan then said on Monday that Sweden could no longer count on Turkey's support for its planned NATO membership.
aeh/AFP
