Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emphasized the need for collective action to address escalating Islamophobia and xenophobia in Western nations.
“The vile attack on our sacred book, the Quran, in Sweden on the first day of Eid al Adha reveals the terrifying dimensions of Islamophobia,” he said in a video sent to 46th Annual Convention of the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America on Saturday.
Erdogan stressed on the responsibility of all Muslims to prevent a recurrence.
“All of us, all Muslims, have a great responsibility to ensure that such acts, to which we react very strongly in Türkiye, do not recur. If we act as one heart and one wrist, no one in the world would dare to attack the sanctities of Muslims,” he said.
Erdogan also acknowledged the strong bond between Türkiye and Pakistan as two brotherly nations, highlighting exceptional relations between the two countries.
Thousands in Pakistan protest Quran burning in Sweden
Anger over Quran desecration approved by Sweden
Anger has spiked in Muslim countries when a man, identified in Swedish media as an Iraqi Christian immigrant, burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm on Eid al Adha.
The act was approved by Sweden. But the country’s police later opened an investigation against the attacker.
From Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, Sweden faced severe backlash from Muslim nations and even Christian minorities.
Thousands protested in Pakistan and Iraq, Morocco recalled its envoy to Sweden, Iran delayed appointing a new ambassador to Sweden, and other countries denounced the act in protest against Stockholm.
