“We condemn in the strongest terms the vile attack of an anti-Islamic person targeting our holy book, the Quran, in The Hague, Netherlands, on 22 January,” the ministry said.

The ministry underlined that “this despicable act that insults our sacred values and includes a hate crime, this time in the Netherlands after Sweden, is a clear announcement that Islamophobia, discrimination and xenophobia know no bounds in Europe.”

The ministry emphasized that these actions directly target the fundamental rights and freedoms, moral values, and social tolerance of not only Muslims but all humanity and also harm the culture of living together in peace.

“The Dutch Ambassador to Ankara was summoned to our Ministry and it was emphasized in strongest terms that we condemned and protested this heinous and despicable act, and demanded that the Netherlands not allow such provocative acts,” the ministry said.

The ministry also called on Dutch authorities to take necessary actions against the perpetrator of the incident and to implement concrete measures in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

On Sunday, Edwin Wagensveld, the Dutch leader of the far-right group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), tore out pages from the holy Qur’an in the Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands, and posted a video of the provocative move on Twitter. (ILKHA)