Foreign Minister Tuomioja: An apology does not violate anybody's freedom of speech

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja wrote on his website at www.tuomioja.org on 2 February about the difficulty of understanding as follows:

The caricatures the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published as long ago as in September have given rise to an excessive uproar and an actual crisis. It goes without saying that all EU countries must together condemn and repel all the violence or threats of violence associated with the matter, as well as interference with trade relations. Freedom of speech cannot be relative or for sale.

At the same time, I must also point out – and I am doing this as a person who is not a member of any religious group – that it is not wise or acceptable to intentionally violate the religious feelings of any person. However, apologising for an incident, even an unintentional one, does not violate anybody's freedom of speech. Now is not the right time to deliberately exacerbate suspicions between the great cultures and religious groups, or to provoke religious zealots, on either side. This whole matter would probably have been removed from the agenda by now, had Denmark already last autumn said and done what it has done now.