The Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday opened an investigation against Rasmus Paludan of Denmark, responsible for burning copies of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark, and Edwin Wagensveld, who tried to do the same in the Netherlands and finally ended up tearing off several sheets.
«Due to the alleged incidents, it is understood that the suspects committed acts of public incitement of hatred and enmity of people towards the sacred values of Islam the Quran and the prophet of Islam; and openly insulted the religious values adopted by a part of the people,» reads a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, picked up by the Anatolia news agency.
Paludan, a prominent Danish far-right leader, burned a copy of the Koran in the middle of the month in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm and days later another one in front of a mosque in the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, according to the Public Ministry of the Turkish capital.
Days later, Edwin Wagensveld, a senior member of Patriots Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), tried to burn another copy in the Netherlands, but was prevented by the authorities and eventually ended up trampling on it and tearing some of the pages of Islam’s holy book.
These episodes have aroused the criticism of Turkey – and other Muslim countries – which has even cancelled meetings with Swedish representatives aimed at facilitating Sweden’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance, blocked for the moment by Ankara and Budapest.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
