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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Hundreds of Muslims marched towards Koekamp square as part of the "stop anti-Muslim hatred" protest organized by the Federation of Islamic Organizations (FIO) and the Haaglanden Region Islamic Organizations Association (SIORH).

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Cetinkaya noted that the perpetrators of these acts are encouraged by the silence of government officials.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

"Enough is enough. Stop holding grudges against Muslims and Islam," he said, stressing that Muslims living in the Netherlands are also part of the country.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Rasmus Paludan, an extremist Danish-Swedish politician and the leader of the far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Jan. 21 with both police protection and permission from Swedish authorities.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

The following week, he burned a copy of Islam's holy book in front of a mosque in Denmark and said he would repeat the act every Friday until Sweden is included in NATO.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Meanwhile, far-right Dutch politician Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), tore apart a Quran before setting it on fire at an anti-Islam demonstration in Enschede, the Netherlands in late January.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Sweden's NATO bid

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last May, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Unanimous agreement from all NATO members-including Türkiye, a member for more than 70 years-is needed for any new members to be admitted to the alliance.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Under a memorandum signed last June between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland, the two Nordic countries pledged to take steps against terrorists to gain membership in the NATO alliance.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

In the memorandum, Sweden and Finland agreed not to provide support to terrorist groups such as the PKK and its offshoots and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and to extradite terrorist suspects to Türkiye, among other steps.

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Muslims in Netherlands protest desecration of Quran

Türkiye says the two countries, particularly Sweden, need to do more to fulfill their promises, especially in the wake of recent demonstrations by supporters of the PKK terror group and the burning of the Quran in Stockholm.