Spain urges Europe to respect Muslims

Spain’s Foreign Minister urged the European Unions to respect Muslims and take the Islamic world more seriously, IRNA reported.

"The cartoon crisis has shown that we have to pay more attention to that part of the world," Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters during his visit to Denmark, where the offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) were first published.

Moratinos’ comments came at a diplomatic gathering at Copenhagen Royal Library to discuss relations between the West and the Islamic world.

Muslim leaders criticized the Danish government for not taking a tougher stance against the newspaper that first published the images. The government claims that it cannot tell the paper what to publish because it supports “freedom of speech”.

The Spanish Foreign Minister told a crowd of about 150 people that European states must preserve their traditions of free speech, "but it has to be exercised with responsibility."

Moratinos also urged both sides to increase mutual respect, and refrain from stereotyping each other to reduce the risk of more serious conflicts.

"We are living in a different time period of history and dialogue is the best instrument to overcome problems and challenges which we are facing. By engaging in a dialogue and being tolerant, we can overcome serious challenges in the relations between the West and the Islamic world," Moratinos said.

For his part, the Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said that “the objective of exchanging thoughts between the West and the Islamic world is not merely peaceful co-existence and tolerance but also promoting participation and cooperation among all sides.”