Awwal 5, 1432, April 9, 2011, SPA -- The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, welcomed the recent statement by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the burning of a copy of the holy Qur'an during his meeting with the OIC Group of Ambassadors to the UN on 5 April 2011. Ban Ki-moon said that the "recent burning of a copy of the Qur'an in the United States and similar actions anywhere else contradict the efforts of the United Nations to promote tolerance, intercultural understanding and mutual respect between cultures and religions". The UN Secretary General also supported the UN High Representative of the Alliance of Civilization, Jorge Sampaio, who noted in a statement that the desecration of the Qur'an - as of any holy text - should be vehemently repudiated.
