Turkey summons Dutch diplomat over Quran tearing outside embassy in The Hague

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry in Ankara summoned a diplomat from the Dutch embassy on Monday in response to an incident where Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the Dutch Pegida, tore up a Quran during a protest outside the Turkish embassy in The Hague on Friday evening. This information comes from Turkish public and state-funded broadcaster TRT World, citing Turkish diplomatic sources.

The ministry communicated its dissatisfaction to the minister counselor of the Netherlands in Ankara regarding the event. A Danish diplomat was also summoned due to incidents concerning the Quran in Denmark. "It was once again emphasized that Türkiye condemns and protests these actions in the strongest possible terms," said the sources.

On multiple occasions, Turkey has voiced its disapproval of public violations of the Quran in Western countries. For example, in late July, Ankara expressed indignation over a Quran burning incident in Sweden.

In recent weeks, Quran burnings in Denmark and Sweden caused a lot of social unrest. On Thursday, the Swedish security service raised the terrorism threat level in the country to the second highest level. According to Swedish media, the threat has increased due to the Quran burnings in the country and the resulting anger in Islamic countries.

Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz said last week she would not be surprised if the terrorism threat level in the Netherlands also rises due to such demonstrations. She “personally finds destroying or burning books rather primitive and sad,” but “it is allowed in our country; you have that freedom,” she said at the start of the first Council of Ministers after the summer recess. According to the Minister, a higher terrorist threat due to certain actions is an element that you must take into account. “These components are part of a free democracy.”