ANKARA - "The world public opinion needs a legal arrangement and agreement that will determine the limits between freedom of press and speech and desecration of religious values," Turkish Department of Religious Affairs said on Tuesday while protesting caricature of Prophet Mohammad that was published in a Swedish newspaper.
Releasing a written statement, the Department said, "we have been observing that anti-Islamist attitudes and Islamophobia take place in various media organs and bureaucratic statements. Unfortunately, such kind of attitudes continue."
"All Muslims and everybody having common sense express regret over the progress of anti-Islamist stances in the West towards desecration of religious values on which Muslim people are sensitive. Desecration of religious values of Islam fuels a global crisis and tension between the two worlds and leaves behind deep sorrows," the statement said.
"Some centres in Western societies persistently continue to insult sacred values of Islam," the statement added.
It said, "such kind of attacks and insults leading to reciprocal tension, enmity and hatred, can not be shown as legal by using freedoms. We want the call made by Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in March 2007, which was accepted by UN Human Rights Commission, to become law soon."
In a resolution on combatting defamation of religions, the Council urged the states to take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constituted incitement to racial and religious hatred, hostility or violence.
Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published on August 19th a controversial drawing by a Swedish artist, depicting Mohammed`s head on a dog`s body. Several demonstrations were organized in moslem countries to condemn Sweden.