DUSHANBE, April 8, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- The Delegations of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey to the OSCE Permanent Council released a joint statement over the March 20 burning of the Koran at a plenary meeting of the OSCE PC that took place on April 7.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, the Delegations strongly condemned the act of the burning of a copy of the Holy Koran and subsequent violence that led to death of UN workers in Afghanistan.

They called this act a manifestation of intolerance and discrimination against of Muslims, shameless and irresponsible provocation breaking peaceful relations between different religions and communities, the worst form of extremism that has hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims all over the world, the source said.

We will recall that an emergency meeting of the Ambassadorial Group of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) at the United Nations, presided over by Tajikistan (OIC Chair), released similar statement on March 25.

On April 5, the OIC ambassadors met with the Un Secretary-General ban Ki-moon.  UN News Center reports that Mr. Ban said that the recent burning of a copy of the Koran in the United States and similar actions anywhere else contradict the efforts of the United Nations to promote tolerance, intercultural understanding and mutual respect between cultures and religions.  He condemned the incident in the state of Florida and said such actions cannot be condoned by any religion.  The Secretary-General said he supported the UN High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations, Jorge Sampaio, who noted in a statement on Sunday that the desecration of the Koran – as of any holy text – should be vehemently repudiated.