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Turkish anger after Quran burning, Kurd protests in Sweden | Islamophobia News

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Turkey denounced Sweden after protests in front of its embassy in Stockholm including the burning of a Quran by far-right supporters and a separate demonstration by Kurdish activists.

Ankara said on Saturday it was cancelling a visit by Sweden’s defence minister aimed at overcoming Turkey’s objections to its NATO membership. Sweden needs Turkey’s backing to gain entry to the military alliance as fears in Europe grow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Quran burning was carried out by Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line. In April last year, Paludan’s announcement of a Quran burning “tour” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan sparked riots across Sweden.

Surrounded by police, Paludan set fire to the holy book with a lighter following a long diatribe of almost an hour, in which he attacked Islam and immigration in Sweden. About 100 people gathered nearby for a peaceful counterdemonstration.

“If you don’t think there should be freedom of expression, you have to live somewhere else,” he said.

The Turkish foreign ministry responded immediately in a statement.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack on our holy book… Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,” the ministry said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu vented fury at Swedish authorities’ failure to ban the protest. “It’s a racist action, it’s not about freedom of expression,” he said.

Several Arab countries – including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait – also denounced the Quran-burning.

“Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.

A small group gathered outside the Swedish embassy in Ankara to protest the Quran-burning. A protest was also scheduled to take place in Istanbul on Saturday evening.

‘Clear crime of hatred’

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom called the Islamophobic provocations “appalling”.

“Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish Government, or myself, support the opinions expressed,” Billstrom said on Twitter.

A separate protest took place in the city supporting Kurds and against Sweden’s bid to join NATO. A group of pro-Turkish demonstrators also held a rally outside the embassy. All three events had police permits.

Demonstrators waved flags of various Kurdish groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. The PKK is considered a terrorist group in Turkey, the European Union, and the United States, but its symbols are not banned in Sweden.

Turkey earlier was angered by Sweden’s green light for the protest in front of its embassy amid ongoing tensions following Ankara’s objections to Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar denounced Sweden’s government for failing to take measures against “disgusting” anti-Turkish protests on its soil. Akar said the scheduled January 27 visit by his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson no longer held “any importance or point”.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin condemned the demonstration as a “clear crime of hatred”.

“Allowing this action despite all our warnings is encouraging hate crimes and Islamophobia,” he tweeted. “The attack on sacred values is not freedom but modern barbarism.”

Billström told TT news agency on Friday that Sweden respects freedom of speech.

‘Extremists and loonies’

Carl Bildt, a former prime minister of Sweden, told Al Jazeera there was still progress being made on the issue of Turkey’s approval for Sweden’s ascension into NATO despite the tensions.

“There are extremists and loonies running around trying to sabotage the whole process. They should not be given [importance] if the authorities in Ankara are truly interested in coming to an agreement,” Bildt said.

Turkey summoned the Swedish ambassador on Friday to condemn the protests, saying rallies by pro-Kurdish groups linked to the PKK would be a violation of the joint memorandum signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland that prevented a Turkish veto for the Nordic countries’ NATO accession in June.

Sweden and neighbouring Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment last year when they applied to join the Western defence alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has so far refused to approve their bids, which need sign-off by all member states, and tied its favourable vote to Swedish steps to extradite people it accuses of terrorism or of having played a part in the 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey argues that Sweden is not doing enough to crack down on Kurdish groups that Ankara views as “terrorists”.

Sweden’s ambassador to Turkey was summoned last week after a video posted by a Kurdish group in Stockholm that depicted an effigy of Erdogan swinging by his legs from a rope.

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US

Republican Rebuked for Anti-Muslim Remarks in ‘Islamophobia’ Debate

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WASHINGTON — A House effort to pass a bill to combat anti-Muslim bigotry became enmeshed in charges of exactly that prejudice when a right-wing Republican from Pennsylvania accused the bill’s co-sponsor, Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, of antisemitism and harboring terrorist sympathies.

Representative Scott Perry, the incoming leader of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, assailed the measure, which would create a new special envoy position in the State Department to combat “Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement.” But his harshest words were aimed at Ms. Omar, one of two Muslim women in the House and a co-author of the measure.

“American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay terrorist organizations, organizations that the maker of this bill is affiliated with, like the one that’s an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror finance case in the United States of America’s history,” Mr. Perry said.

The attack was a convoluted reference to a case more than a decade ago against the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity that in 2008 was convicted of funding Islamic militant groups. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a human rights group, was one of nearly 250 organizations and individuals named as co-conspirators.

The federal government at the time said it had included the organizations on the list to extract evidence for the trial, but the district court and a federal appeals court ruled that making the list public was a mistake. A decade later, the council, which is modeled on the Anti-Defamation League, honored Ms. Omar, who gave a speech to its California chapter.

None of that information was imparted by Mr. Perry. Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan and an ally of Ms. Omar, moved immediately to strike Mr. Perry’s words from the official record of the debate, grinding the House floor to a halt. Ultimately, Mr. Perry was barred from speaking again Tuesday night. The bill passed late Tuesday night along party lines, 219 to 212.

The kerfuffle showed the gulf between the two parties, even as House Democratic leaders are trying to defuse the incendiary issue of bigotry. The anti-Muslim bias bill came to the floor four weeks after a video surfaced of Representative Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, suggesting that Ms. Omar could have been a suicide bomber and calling her a member of the “jihad squad.”

Several Democrats wanted their leaders to punish Ms. Boebert by stripping her of her committee assignments, but leaders opted not to. They had already done that to two other Republicans this year, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said that further action could be taken against Ms. Boebert.

Ms. Pelosi said Tuesday night that she had hoped the House would “come together in a spirit of unity” on the anti-Islamophobia bill. Instead, she said, what followed was “an attack on the faith of one of our members.”

House Republican leaders denounced the bill, saying it would create what they called a redundant office within the State Department, and because “Islamophobia” was not clearly defined, they raised the prospect that such a new office could be used to police Israel’s efforts to counter Islamist organizations like Hamas.

Representative Andy Barr, Republican of Kentucky, called it “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

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US

House passes Ilhan Omar’s legislation to combat Islamophobia

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The legislation was previously sitting in the House Foreign Affairs Committee for months but was voted out of committee last week as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced increasing pressure from members of her own party to take aggressive action against Boebert for her racist remarks.

Debate for the legislation was interrupted Tuesday night following objections made by Democrats against GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who insulted Omar during his remarks. Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, who was serving as chair of the session, ruled that Perry’s comment “impugns the patriotism or loyalty of the member of the House” and ruled his remarks “not in order.” Debate continued shortly after Castor’s ruling.

The Biden administration said in a statement it supported this legislation.

“Religious freedom is a fundamental human right. This freedom is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is also part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Our country’s commitment to defending freedom of religion and belief goes back centuries, and the Administration strongly believes that people of all faiths and backgrounds should be treated with equal dignity and respect around the world,” the statement said.

The vote on the bill in the House comes after progressive Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts introduced a resolution, cosigned by other progressives, that would strip the Colorado Republican of her committee assignments if passed.

Last week, Pelosi dodged when she was asked if she supported that resolution and repeated her call for GOP leadership to punish members of their conference.

The call to have Boebert removed from her committee assignments for her controversial comments is not made in isolation. Threatening violence is the reason why Democrats stripped Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of their committee assignments earlier this year after incendiary comments or actions they made.

Omar said last week she was “very confident” Pelosi would take “decisive action” against Boebert over the Colorado Republican’s anti-Muslim remarks.

“I’ve had a conversation with the speaker and I’m very confident that she will take decisive action next week,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Tuesday.

CNN’s Kristin Wilson, Betsy Klein and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.

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US

Islamophobia controversy worsens after Boebert calls Omar

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It’s the second time this month that a GOP lawmaker has faced blowback for offensive comments about a Democratic colleague. Just before Thanksgiving, House Democrats moved swiftly to punish Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) after he posted an anime video depicting the killing of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.); Gosar was censured and stripped of his committees.

This time, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team sharply condemned Boebert’s comments but demanded that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy be the one to act against the Coloradan. Omar echoed that sentiment in her own statement on Monday afternoon.

“This is not about one hateful statement or one politician; it is about a party that has mainstreamed bigotry and hatred,” Omar wrote in a statement released after her call with Boebert. “It is time for Republican Leader McCarthy to actually hold his party accountable.”

A spokesperson for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boebert said in her video, posted to Instagram, that she asked Omar to make a public apology “for her anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-police rhetoric.” Omar has criticized the Israeli government in her advocacy for Palestinian rights, running afoul of some in her own party in the past, and supported police reform efforts following law enforcement killings of men and women of color. After the two went back and forth, Omar ended the call.

The episode will put further pressure on McCarthy, who has faced a series of controversies over divisive rhetoric within his ranks. House Republicans would far prefer to focus on their political advantages over Democrats and the Biden administration ahead of the upcoming midterms, rather than tamping down polarizing moments orchestrated by their own members.

It is unclear what, if anything, Democratic leaders will do to address Boebert’s comments beyond the public condemnation they released late last week. Multiple senior Democrats described the situation as fluid, noting that Pelosi and her leadership team won’t even meet until late Tuesday, when the House returns.

In addition, several Democrats privately said they do not want to be lured into a “trap” by Republicans — forced to police every objectionable statement made by GOP lawmakers when McCarthy and other party leaders won’t do anything to rein in their own.

Those Democrats, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations, said the situation with Boebert is also different from Gosar, who posted an animated video of himself killing his colleague and then refused to apologize for it.

Omar’s office argued that GOP leaders have a responsibility to address Boebert’s pattern of “Islamophobic hate speech,” citing other examples of offensive language used against the Minnesota Democrat earlier this year. That includes multiple instances where Boebert has falsely described Omar as an advocate “for state-sponsored terrorism,” declaring her an “honorary member of Hamas” who is a “terrorist sympathizer.”

This month also is not the first time that Boebert has described Omar as part of the “jihad squad.” She also used the term at a campaign event in New York in September.

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World

Canadian school district cancels speech by ISIS rape survivor, Nobel winner due to ‘Islamophobia’ fears

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A woman who lived through kidnapping and sexual slavery at the hands of ISIS had an event cancelled by a Canadian school board due to fears of “Islamophobia.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Nadia Murad was scheduled to visit with students from 600 different schools to speak about her upcoming book, “The Last Girl: My Story Of Captivity,” which documents the horrific treatment she suffered from ISIS but was told by the Toronto School District that her event could not be held because it could “foster Islamophobia”, according to the Telegraph.

ISIS widows living in the Ein Essa displacement camp face an uncertain future.
(Hollie McKay/Fox News)

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The decision to cancel the event was made by Toronto School Board Superintendent Helen Fisher, who argued that the book could be viewed as offensive to Muslims. The Toronto District School Board is Canada’s largest, and the fourth largest in North America. 

NINE OF 10 MOST POPULAR GOVERNORS ARE REPUBLICANS, BIDEN LESS POPULAR THAN LEAST POPULAR GOVERNOR

Murad’s book tells how she escaped the Islamic State after being taken from her home and sold into sexual slavery where she was raped and tortured at the age of 14.

At least one district parent, who identified herself as Tanya Lee, has criticized the school district for the move. 

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June 28, 2014: This image made from undated video posted on a social media account frequently used for communications by the ISIS, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows Abu Umar al-Shishani standing next to the group’s spokesman among a group of fighters as they declare the elimination of the border between Iraq and Syria.
(AP)

“This is what the Islamic State means. It is a terrorist organization. It has nothing to do with ordinary Muslims. The Toronto school board should be aware of the difference,” Lee said.

Murad won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and founded Nadia’s Initiative, through which she is a leading advocate for survivors of sexual exploitation and genocide. 

Fisher did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

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