Geneva: A decision by voters in
Switzerland to ban the construction of new mosque minarets
will endanger security, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey
said on Tuesday.
"In any event, we are concerned by this vote," she
told a meeting of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"The reality of our societies, in Europe and in the
world (is that) every blow to the co-existence of different
cultures and religions also endangers our security," she
added, according to a written transcript of her speech in
Athens which was released by the ministry.
In a shock result, more than 57 percent of voters
approved a referendum motion to ban minarets brought by
right-wing groups, including the Swiss People's Party, the
country's biggest.
The outcome triggered widespread accusations of
intolerance, especially in Muslim countries and among
Switzerland's European neighbours as well as the UN's human
rights chief.
However, it was also hailed by leaders of other
populist anti-immigrant parties in Europe who suggested they
might do the same at home.
Calmy-Rey, who has been trying to calm the backlash
abroad, insisted that while the construction of new minarets
was now prohibited, mosques could still be built.
-PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 01, 2009, 23:11