The Swiss foreign minister warned on Tuesday that a decision by voters in Switzerland to ban new mosque minarets could endanger security, amid stark warnings about a broader threat of extremism.
Opponents of the ban in Switzerland vowed to press ahead with legal challenges, while Turkey and the UN human rights chief delivered sharp rebukes over a broader and growing trend of European intolerance that they believe the vote revealed.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey also acknowledged that Muslims in Switzerland now faced a restriction on their freedom to exert their religion, in the first overt expression of government concern since Sunday's referendum.
More than 57 percent of voters upset the opinion polls and defied their government by approving the right wing motion to ban minarets. Related article: UN rights chief slams minaret ban
"In any event, we are concerned by this vote," Calmy-Rey told a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Greece.
"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 remarks which was released by the ministry
Calmy-Rey warned of the risk of a chain reaction in such instances, as repeated "provocation" triggered outrage, thereby "fanning extremism."
Turkish leaders joined widespread condemnation on Tuesday, denouncing the Swiss vote as a "mistake" and a reflection of Islamophobia as well as "racist and extreme nationalist waves surging in Europe."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that it "has irked not only the Islamic world, but also those who fear a clash of civilisations."
He called on Europeans to act against the ban "so as not to plunge the world, particularly Europe, into tensions."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called tha ban a "deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take."
"I have no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scaremongering that has characterised political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helps produce results like this," she added.
Anti-immigrant party leaders elsewhere in Europe have hailed the outcome of the referendum brought by members of the hard-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) -- Switzerland's biggest party -- and other right-wing groups.
Meanwhile, the head of the Swiss Green Party, Ueli Leuenberger, pledged to support appeals against the ban to the European Court of Human Rights.
"It's extremely important," he told AFP.
"For Switzerland... but also at European level when you see the reactions of populist parties and the extreme right, who are celebrating and taking the Swiss example to launch campaigns against Muslims in their countries," said Leuenberger.
The Swiss constitutional amendment does not affect mosques or religious worship.
However, opponents charged that right-wing campaigners portrayed the towers, of which there are just four in Switzerland, as symbols of "power" and whipped up fears about the burqa, women's rights and Islamic extremism.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
