Copenhagen - A Danish newspaper at the centre of the ongoing row over controversial Mohammed cartoons refuted reports that it planned to publish anti-Semitic or anti-Christian caricatures, the chief editor said Thursday.
Jyllands-Posten's editor Carsten Juste's statement was published on the newspaper's web site after a Danish television channel reported that publication was pending this Sunday.
Web sites have in recent days been set up in Denmark and elsewhere offering people a chance to send an apology to Muslims offended by Jyllands-Posten's publication.
One such web site was www.forsoning.nu (reconciliation now) which will be collected until March when the petitions were to be handed over to the Danish government and various embassies.
Another option was www.anotherdenmark.org where co-founder Nikolai Lang said that while 'the conflict has been worsened by the possibilities inherent in the new media to rapidly spread feelings like fear and mistrust...we want to employ these media in a positive way, establishing a basis for a greater understanding between Denmark and the Muslim world.'
Similar sentiments were expressed by Arab and Muslim youth who set up www.sorrynorwaydenmark.com, saying that although they found the cartoons to be 'incendiary, insulting and very abrasive' they rejected the violent protests that have taken place.
'We whole-heartedly apologize to the people of Denmark, Norway and all the European Union over the actions of a few,' the group said.
Meanwhile, the government continued efforts to defuse the crisis.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was 'prepared to listen to all proposals,' a Rasmussen aide told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa but was unable to meet Thursday with a parliamentary deputy of Turkish origin to discuss an idea of Turkey mediating in the ongoing row over the controversial Mohammed cartoons.
Social Democratic politician Hüseyin Arac had earlier been quoted by Danish media outlets as saying he had suggested that Turkey could host a meeting between Denmark and other Muslim countries.
Arac hails from Aarhus, the city where the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten is published.
In a related development, Aarhus police said they would not pursue a complaint of blasphemy filed against Jyllands-Posten over the publication last September of the controversial caricatures.
Jorgen Hansen had filed the complaint arguing that the cartoons were blasphemous and also harmed Danish interests, citing threats against Danish nationals and consumer boycotts in many Muslim countries. Hansen said he would appeal the police decision, Aarhus Stiftstidende newspaper reported.
In Norway, the Muslim organization Al-Jinah Foundation filed a police complaint against Vebjorn Selbekk, chief editor of Christian weekly Magazinet that recently reprinted the Mohammed caricatures.
'He has put Norwegian lives in danger with the provocative publication of the Mohammed cartoons,' Khalid Mohammad, leader of the foundation told public broadcaster NRK.
Selbekk met Wednesday with a representative of the Islamic Council. Christian Democratic Party leader Dagfinn Hoybraten brokered the meeting in an effort to start a dialogue.
