21/02/2006 12:44:50 pm
The EU, Turkey and the Clash of Cartoons. It may be impossible for us in the West to understand the reasons for the outrage in several Muslim countries against the Muhammed cartoons. We are used to satire directed towards all possible authorities, in a free press. But the outrage is there, thus it is a fact that we have to acknowledge and we must take a stand.

The view of some Swedish - and other European - politicians that we should either stay outside this because it is a Danish matter is simply foolish; sooner or later similar things will be repeated. One should take a stand now. And it should not be a compromise of any kind with the freedom of the press.

This also illustrates the importance of Turkey as a modern and free - secular but muslim-dominated - country. As an EU member, or as now on the long way to become so, they can be a bridge between the West and the Muslim world. The EU has now rightly asked Turkey to act in that capacity.