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Danish envoy to Ankara summoned to Turkish Foreign Ministry over approved anti-Quran rally

The Foreign Ministry "has resolutely condemned the coordination of this inflammatory act which constitutes a hate crime"

ANKARA, January 27. /TASS/. Denmark’s Ambassador to Ankara Danny Annan was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday because Danish authorities issued a permit for a rally near the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen with its participants intending to desecrate the Quran, a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry told TASS.

"The Danish envoy to Ankara has just been summoned by our ministry when we found out that today (January 27 - TASS) that Denmark had approved a rally near the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen which involves attacks on our holy book, the Quran," the source said.

The Foreign Ministry "has resolutely condemned the coordination of this inflammatory act which constitutes a hate crime." According to the agency, this kind of attitude by Denmark is unacceptable. The ambassador was notified that Ankara expects that the Danish government will prevent this rally, expected to be held on Friday.

Earlier, a major scandal erupted between Turkey and Sweden over the burning of the Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. On January 21, Danish politician Rasmus Paludan who leads the anti-Islamic far-right extremist Stram Kurs party publicly burned the Quran in front of the Turkish diplomatic mission. In his speech, he criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and displayed a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad. Erdogan said that following this and other anti-Turkish rallies in Stockholm, Sweden should not expect any support from Ankara for its NATO membership bid. Earlier, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar echoed this viewpoint.