Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday called on the Muslim world show restraint in the face of an anti-Islam film blamed for sparking violent protests in Egypt and deadly attacks against American diplomats in Libya, dpa reported.
"This film, which insults Islam and the prophet, is evil and provocative," Erdogan said. "But any one who turns to violence, is himself attempting to provoke Muslims. And we will not accept such provocations."
Erdogan made the remarks in the Ukrainian resort city of Yalta during a convention for regional business leaders and government officials.
The film, Innocence of Muslims, was irresponsible and shamefully insulting to Islam, but that even so it should not be used as a pretext for attacks against members of other faiths, Erdogan said, in comments reported by the Unian news agency.
"Insulting the prophet can never be justified on grounds of free speech, but even so, this cannot be a reason to insult innocent people, or to harm them, or to attack them. Nothing could justify that, and most of all, Islam does not condone it. Nobody can, in the name of Islam, do what took place in Libya - attack a US diplomatic mission," he said.
Initial protests against the film in the Libyan city of Benghazi on September 11 culminated in a mob assault of the US consulate there that killed four officials, including ambassador Chris Stevens.