Cartoon Scandal: Europe Apologizes

Foreign ministers of European Union countries have released a joint statement regretting the publication of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad in some European media.

The statement was signed by all the 25 foreign ministers of EU countries at their yesterday's meeting in Brussels. The European diplomats said they regretted that the caricatures had insulted millions of Muslims the world over.

Freedom of expression should exist within the limits of respect for religious and other creeds and convictions, while mutual tolerance and respect are universal values to be professed by us all, says the release.

However, the joint statement notes that the European Union still believes the freedom of speech to be an inalienable right of citizens in a democratic society and an element of discussion. The ministers also condemned the outbreaks of violence provoked by the publication of the cartoons.

Though the statement has been signed by all the EU countries, the discussions around the cartoon scandal were not free of clashes of opinions. Thus, the British representative called for the EU to express regret over the very fact of the publications of the cartoons, but representatives of the Netherlands and Czechia declined to make official apologies invoking freedom of speech.

At their Brussels meeting the foreign ministers of the EU countries also worked out a single strategy for mending fences with Muslim countries. According to the Austrian foreign minister, the EU intends to maintain dialog and work towards mutual understanding with the Islamic world.

As has been reported, the scandal had been caused by Danish newspaper "Jullands Posten" having published 12 cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad, last September which had been reprinted several months later by many European periodicals. The cartoons had caused indignation among Muslims all over the world, after which massive protest marches had been held in a number of Muslim countries and embassies of some European countries had been attacked.

In Afghanistan the "Taliban" movement had even promised a reward of 100 kilograms of gold to whoever kills the authors of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.