After Turkey summoned the Norwegian ambassador, Norwegian police have banned a previously scheduled anti-Islam demonstration in which the Koran was to be burned for security reasons.
According to the British news agency Reuters, police say that a group planned to desecrate the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Oslo on Friday.
The police said in a statement that “burning the Koran to express a political opinion is legally permissible in Norway, but due to security reasons, this demonstration can no longer take place.”
Turkey strongly condemned the anti-Islamic group’s plan, calling it a “provocative act,” and said the ministry had called for it to be banned, Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said on Thursday.
Norway’s foreign ministry says Turkey raised the issue in a meeting. “Our ambassador cited the constitutional right to freedom of expression in Norway and said that the Norwegian government neither supports nor opposes this demonstration,” a ministry spokesman said.
In Norway, the police can only ban a demonstration if it threatens the peace.
Ankara strongly condemned the desecration of the Koran by a far-right anti-refugee politician outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm last month.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was opposed by Turkey.