Swedish Foreign Minister Deems Continued Dialogue With Islamic Countries Important

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Monday that his country sees great value in continued dialogue with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) amid a series of Quran-burning protests in European countries.

The minister added that he had initiated talks with "many foreign ministers" of the 57-member organization in recent days and sent a letter to all of them, explaining "how Sweden's freedom of demonstration works."

"Member States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are holding a foreign ministers meeting this afternoon to discuss, among other things, the recent [Quran-burning] demonstrations in Sweden and Denmark … We see great value in continued dialogue with OIC Member States," Billstrom revealed in a statement posted on the government's website.

Over the past two weeks, multiple Quran burning demonstrations took place in Denmark, carried out by the Danish Patriots extremist group, including in front of the Turkish embassy. On June 28, the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a protest took place outside Stockholm's main mosque, during which a copy of the Quran was burned. A similar demonstration took place in Sweden in January.

Most Muslim countries have condemned the demonstrations, and some have summoned the Swedish and Danish ambassadors to issue them notes of protest. The Quran-burning demonstrations in Sweden was also one of the reasons cited by Turkiye for blocking Stockholm's accession to NATO.