Al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious institutions of Sunni Islam based in Egypt, called on Wednesday January 25
"for a boycott of Swedish and Dutch products"
after the desecrations of Korans by far-right activists this weekend in Sweden and the Netherlands.
As part of a protest authorized by Swedish police near the Turkish Embassy, Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran on Saturday.
On Sunday, a Dutch leader of the Islamophobic movement Pegida was filmed, alone, tearing up pages from a copy of the Koran near the Dutch parliament, before trampling on them.
According to Dutch public television NOS, however, the local police prevented him from burning the holy book of Muslims.
These two events sparked strong protests from Ankara and several capitals of the Muslim world as well as demonstrations in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Sunni institution called
on "Muslims to boycott Dutch and Swedish products"
, demanding
"an appropriate response from the governments of these two countries (...) and their persistence in protecting despicable and barbaric crimes in name of
"freedom of expression".
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry
"strongly condemned"
the two acts in statements, expressing in the second Monday its
"deep concern at the recurrence of such events and the recent Islamophobic escalation in a number of European countries"
.
Wrath of Turkey
Stockholm, for its part, deplored an act
"deeply disrespectful"
and expressed its
"sympathy"
to Muslims, stressing that the Swedish Constitution prevented from prohibiting this type of action.
This was not enough to calm the anger of Turkey, more determined than ever to block Sweden's candidacy for NATO membership.
Monday Washington described the burning of the Koran as a
"repugnant"
act denouncing a
"provocation"
and a "deliberate desire
to influence the ongoing discussions on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO"
and to
"weaken"
transatlantic unity.
"I want to renew a working dialogue with Turkey
," said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson during a press conference on Tuesday, criticizing the
"provocateurs"
who are trying to destabilize the Swedish candidacy and calling for
"calm
in the face of a
"
serious"
situation .