Turkish expert criticizes EU’s double Standard toward Islam
During an illegal gathering on August 28, supporters of right-wing Danish politician Rasmus Paludan, who leads the anti-Islamic group Tight Direction (Stram Kurs), burned a copy of Holy Qur’an in the southern Swedish city of Malmo.
On Tuesday, (September 1), French Magazine Charlie Hebdo republished offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) on the eve of the trial of suspects in a deadly attack on the paper’s office five years ago. In January 2015, two terrorists attacked the magazine’s offices in Paris, killing 12 people, many of whom worked for the publication. The attack, condemned by Muslims across the world, was allegedly a response to the magazine’s offensive cartoon of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) a few years earlier.
Anti-Muslim moves have been on the rise across Europe in recent years. Muslim leaders in Europe and around the world have reiterated their unequivocal condemnation of the anti-Muslim acts.
Moreover, the rise of far-right ideology and the propagation of anti-immigration policies have exacerbated the status of religious minorities in Europe particularly Muslims.
To shed light on the issue, we reached out to Turkish researcher and expert Deniz Caner.
“Although the Swedish authorities did not allow the demonstration of provocation against the Quran and imposed an entry ban on the so-called politician, on August 28, far-right street painter Dan Park and Danish racist politician Rasmus Paludan had been in Malmö for two weeks and also made many attempts to provoke Muslims,” Caner said.
“For 2 weeks, it seemed that these provocateurs were expected to burn the Qur’an in a completely helpless manner by the Swedish police,” she added.
Commenting on the European leader’s double standards regarding human rights, the Turkish expert highlighted, “While Europe, which accepts human rights and the rule of law as its basic principle, is very sensitive about anti-Semitism, it is still not able to prevent these ugly attacks against Muslims and Islam.”
MNA/