EU Condemns US Pastor's Koran-Burning Plan

EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, has strongly condemned the plans of the US pastor to burn copies of Koran to mark the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Photo by EPA/BGNES

The European Union has condemned the plans of a Christian pastor from Florida, USA to burn copies of the Muslims' holy book Koran.

"The High Representative respects all kinds of religious beliefs and this is not the right way to go," said Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy.

Pastor Terry Jones from a little evangelical Christian church in Gainesville, Florida has announced that by burning copies of the Koran, he would mark the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Jones' intentions are an extreme form of Islamophobia, provoked by the plans for construction of a Islam culture center in New York close to Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The United States have already publicly condemned the pastor's plans.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton referred to them as "disgraceful" and the White House warned that such actions would cause a tension in the Islamic world, which would endanger the lives of US soldiers.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan. Everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community," said US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus.

In the meantime, the US authorities have their hands tied, unless Jones decided to execute his plans.  

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