The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation strongly condemned the Swedish authorities’ allowing an extremist to burn a copy of the Holy Qur’an in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Stockholm on Saturday (January 21), which represented a blatant violation of religious sanctities and a provocation to the feelings of Muslims all over the world.
Allowing this hateful act that insults Islamic sanctities and values is completely unacceptable. It is nothing but a demagogic practice that promotes hatred and racism and serves the agendas of extremism and terrorism.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation affirms the position of the Federal Republic of Somalia calling for the importance of spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence and rejecting hate speech and violence, and renews the importance of respecting religious symbols, and refraining from provoking hatred and fueling strife through abuse and distortion of religions, sanctities and Islamic rituals.
Somalia calls on Sweden to take strong measures against the rising tide of hatred against Muslims and urges all actors in the international community to shoulder their responsibilities in curbing Islamophobia.