ANKARA, July 20. /TASS/. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has condemned a rally desecrating the Quran held in Stockholm on Thursday.

"We condemn in the most resolute terms the abhorrent attack on our holy book, the Quran, committed today (July 20) in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. "We expect that Sweden, within the framework of its international obligations, particularly, the obligations at the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe, will take restrictive measures to prevent hate crimes against the religion of Islam and billions of believers. Turkey is ready for cooperation in the realm of fighting Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism and discrimination with countries where such attacks occur," its statement said.

Earlier, the Swedish government gave permission to hold a rally in Stockholm on July 20, during which its organizers planned to burn a copy of the Quran and the Iraqi national flag. A TASS reporter at the scene of the rally saw a man kicking the holy book but not burning it. It was the same man who set up a Quran-burning protest in front of a mosque in the Swedish capital in late June.