DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that the act of burning the Holy Quran in Sweden on Saturday by the leader of a far-right party was “another symbol of growing against many religions that must be condemned.
Responding to a question at the regular noon briefing at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday, Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the UN chief “fully supports the statement made by Mr. Miguel Moratinos, the head of the Alliance of Civilizations, who firmly condemned this act.”
In his statement on Friday, Moratinos called “vile” the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, saying, “It is disrespectful and insulting to the adherents of Islam and should not be conflated with freedom of expression.” On Monday, the secretary-general said that the act was “yet another symbol of the growing hate that we’ve been seeing against many religions, whether it’s Islam or Judaism and others, and such acts should be clearly condemned, and we do so.”
Meanwhile, the trilateral mechanism talks for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership have been canceled indefinitely upon Türkiye’s request on Tuesday. The three countries were expected to hold the talks, which were launched in August 2022, next month.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks, as Türkiye condemned Sweden for authorizing a far-right figure burn a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm and allowing terrorist PKK supporters hold anti-Türkiye rallies.
