The Prophet Muhammed cartoon crisis between the West and the Muslim world has now also created a row between the head of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Danish Education and Religious Affairs minister during a conference held to boost dialogue and solidarity among civilizations.
Speaking about the cartoon crisis OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who is also a Turkish academic, stated that the Muslim world hopes that such an ugly and uncivilized event will not occur again.
In response to Ihsanoglu's remarks, Danish Minister Bertel Haarder stated that the Danish administration cannot take responsibility for the actions of a newspaper. He also said that he is proud of his country when he sees that Christians living in Muslims countries are suffering.
Ihsanoglu and Haarder made the remarks late Tuesday on the second day of a two-day conference hosted by the Eisenhower Fellowship group at the Ceylan International Hotel in Istanbul.
The conference, entitled "Building Networks for Change," aimed to pursue dialogue, understanding, and collaboration on a number of issues that divide peoples and nations at the global conference. It coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, an incident that triggered divisions between the West and the Muslim world, thus contributing to efforts to create a dialogue among civilizations.
Ihsanoglu went on to say that there have to limits on freedom of expression. "We also believe in freedom of expression in Western democracies. I'm also saying this to all Muslim countries. However, you can not ridicule the prophet of 1.5 billion people," he added.
He stressed that terrorism isn't connected to Islamic beliefs. "It's very dangerous to link politics and religion. Islam is in line with democracy," Ihsanoglu added.
Haarder, for his part stated that cartoons of prophets have not been published in newspapers in Denmark since the crisis, and added, "I think people have realized that they have offended Muslims. We have all learned lessons."
He also said Denmark attaches importance to religious freedoms, stating that everybody can join whichever religious organization they choose. "We don't discriminate between Christian and Muslim schools. There are 114 mosques and Muslim cemeteries in the country. I don't think that there is any other country than Denmark which supports different religions and cultures. We want to live in peace," he said.
