Rise in Islamophobic attacks in Ramadan no coincidence: Turkish Foreign Minister

ANKARA – Turkiye has slammed a Swedish far-right politician for burning the Muslim holy book. The Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu while commenting on the hateful incident has said, “neo-Nazi movements have led to increased Islamophobia.”

Urging collaboration against any form of racism and Islamophobic rhetoric, Mevlut Cavusoglu while addressing a press conference said that attacks on mosques and staging the burning of holy scrptures have nothing to do with freedom of expression.

On April 14, rightwing fanatic Rasmus Paludan, the leader of Sweden’s far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) group, burned a copy of the Muslim holy scripture in the southern city of Linkoping.

Three people were injured on April 17 in the eastern city of Norrkoping when police reportedly fired on rioters during protests against the incident.

Noting that racist and Islamophobic attacks have risen during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Cavusoglu said that the incident in Sweden took place “under police supervision.”

He also cited other racist and Islamophobic attacks happening in other parts of the world, saying that a Turkish citizen faced a racist attack in New York on April 15, while a Turkish mosque in Dortmund, Germany got threatening letters with offensive photographs on April 16.

Cavusoglu also lamented attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying at least 18 people have died so far and over 400 have been injured.

“We think that this rise during Ramadan is no coincidence. Especially in the West, we see that neo-Nazi movements, including political parties, stepped up racist and anti-Islamic attacks,” he added.

“Anti-Christianity, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia are crimes against humanity,” he said.

Cavusoglu further informed that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog on the ongoing incidents in the West Bank and at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Russia’s war on Ukraine, Cavusoglu said: “We believe that a solution can only be achieved through diplomatic means. We believe that there will be no military solution. We are of course seeing the start of a new cold war … It may take 10 years for trust to be established, but we think that quick steps on a cease-fire and certain issues need to be taken.”