Turkey’s government has advised its citizens living abroad to be alert to the rise of «anti-Islamic, xenophobic and racist actions» in Europe and the United States amid friction over the act of burning a Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Sweden that has sparked protests from several Muslim-majority countries.
«Citizens living in or planning to travel to countries where such acts are taking place should be cautious, stay away from areas where demonstrations may escalate and act calmly in the face of possible xenophobic and racist attacks and harassment,» the Foreign Ministry has made known in a statement posted on its website.
The travel alert comes after the governments of Sweden, Norway and Denmark issued respective statements on Saturday urging their fellow citizens to avoid crowds and crowds in their possible visits to Turkey in response to the growing diplomatic tension with Ankara.
These warnings were issued following Turkey’s express blocking of Sweden’s NATO membership or Ankara’s criticism of «Islamophobic» behavior such as the burning of a copy of the Koran in Stockholm at the hands of a Swedish-Danish ultra-right-winger, Rasmus Paludan.
In fact, Paludan has announced his intention to burn a copy of the Koran every Friday until Sweden can join NATO, to which Turkey has responded by summoning the Danish ambassador to protest.
Other notable incidents have been the demonstration in which a dummy of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was hung by the feet in Stockholm or another in which pages of the Koran were torn up in the Netherlands.
It is worth noting that the Ministry’s official notice to Turkish residents in the United States particularly highlights the social tension arising from the protests against the death of Tyre Nichols, a black man, after being beaten by the Memphis City Police.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
