Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday criticized Sweden for giving a permit for a planned burning of the Quran.
Racism and hate crimes do not count as freedom of thought, he said as cited by Anadolu Agency.
"Despite all our warnings, such permission was unfortunately given to this person. No one can call this freedom of expression and freedom of thought," Cavusoglu added.
"Today, they do not allow the burning of another book but when it comes to the Quran, Islam's holy book, and hostility to Islam, they immediately call it freedom of expression and freedom of thought," he further noted.
According to Swedish law, the decisions of the Council of Europe, and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, hate crimes and racism are not freedom of thought or freedom of expression, he underlined.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned Swedish Ambassador to Ankara Staffan Herrstrom, who was told that Turkey "strongly condemns this provocative act, which is clearly a hate crime, that Sweden's attitude is unacceptable, that Ankara expects the act not to be allowed, and insults to sacred values cannot be defended under the guise of democratic rights."
Cavusoglu's remarks came after an individual was permitted to burn the Quran on Saturday outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
TM/PR
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