ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey summoned the ambassadors of nine countries on Thursday to demand an explanation after the countries temporarily closed diplomatic missions and issued security warnings, citing a heightened threat following Koran burning incidents in Europe.
Last week, far-right activists burned Korans in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, actions that stalled talks for Turkey to lift objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
European countries have condemned the incidents, but some say they could not have prevented them because of free speech rules.
Countries including France, Germany, Italy and the United States have warned their citizens of an increased risk of attacks in Turkey, particularly against diplomatic missions and non-Muslim places of worship. Germany, France and the Netherlands were among the countries that temporarily closed diplomatic missions over security concerns this week.
Turkey, for its part, warned its citizens over the weekend against “possible Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist attacks” in the United States and Europe.
A Turkish foreign ministry source said ambassadors from nine countries had been summoned on Thursday, but did not identify them. The US embassy confirmed that their ambassador attended a meeting at the ministry. Two European diplomatic sources said ambassadors from Germany, France and the Netherlands had also been summoned.
Ruling AKP party spokesman Omer Celik dismissed the security alerts as “irresponsible statements”, adding that Turkey was a safe country.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said some temporary closures of consulates of some Western countries due to security concerns were aimed at starting psychological warfare against Turkey.
(Reporting by Hussein Hayatsever and Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Alison Williams and Peter Graf)
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