Athens - Member states of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership on Friday condemned a Dutch lawmaker's film critical of Islam, saying it expressed sorrow for the offences and the unjustifiable defamation campaigns against Muslims. "We condemn the widespread confusion between terrorism and Islam," parliamentary presidents from 37 member states of the Euro- Mediterranean Partnership, which include Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, said in a joint statement in Athens.
The short 16-minute film by Geert Wilders titled Fitna was broadcast on the internet on Thursday evening and accuses the Koran of inciting violence.
Fitna, which means the divide between believers and infidels, is accompanied by the music Asa's Death, part of the Peer Gynt Suite by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1875 and is a compilation of verses from the Koran and old video footage.
The Koran verses are primarily sections interpreted as calling on Muslims to attack and destroy enemies of the faith.
It also shows the attacks on New York's World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, and the London Underground on July 7, 2005, and video footage of Muslim terrorists executing Western hostages.
The film suggests that violent passages from the Koran are directly used by Muslims as legitimization for violent acts and will ultimately endanger Western democratic and liberal values.
The film ends by calling on the audience to do everything possible to counter what Wilders calls "the danger of the Islamization of the Netherlands."
Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia have condemned the film which urges Muslims to tear hate-filled verses out of the Koran and begins and ends with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb under his turban, accompanied by the sound of ticking.
"The content of this film seems designed to offend the religious sensitivities of Muslims in the Netherlands, Europe and elsewhere in the world. On behalf of the European Parliament I totally reject the interpretation of the film that Islam is a violent religion," said Hans-Gert Pottering, president of the European Parliament.
The cartoon, first published in Danish newspapers, ignited violent protests around the world which many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet as offensive.
