The Minaret Ban: Turkish and Swiss Foreign Ministers Discuss Further Steps

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey, attending the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Athens, discussed the situation followed Switzerland's ban on minarets.

Davutoglu told Calmy-Rey that the ban could spark a furour similar to that following the 2006 publication in Denmark of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. He said: “Unless timely measures are taken, the issue could snowball instantly and turn into a global crisis.”

Davutoglu said later that Calmy-Rey was aware of how important the situation was and conveyed her word that she would be taking measures to address the situation. Both leaders talked about the possibility of reversing the ban through the collection of 100,000 signatures for a second referendum.

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Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Christophe Darbellay, president of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, called for a ban on separate Muslim and Jewish cemeteries. According to the Swiss online daily Tagesanzeiger, Darbellay also wants to ban the wearing of burkas, head-to-toe veils worn by some fundamentalist Muslim women.