The ambassadors of nine Western countries were summoned by Turkey’s foreign ministry on Thursday after several of them closed their Istanbul consulates this week, citing a terrorist risk, Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency reported. .

According to a diplomatic source, these are the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Sweden, AFP and News.ro reported.

At least six of those countries, including France, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, have announced in recent days that they are temporarily closing their consular offices to visitors in Istanbul.

Several Western offices have urged – starting Friday – their citizens in Turkey to be “vigilant” about the risk of attacks in response to the burning of copies of the Koran in several northern European countries.

At the time, the United States and France advised them to avoid certain tourist areas in central Istanbul, such as Taksim Square, as well as areas near churches and synagogues.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Thursday accused the countries of waging a “psychological war” against Turkey that could harm Turkish tourism.

A spokesman for AKP, the party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called these Western warnings “irresponsible”.

At the end of January, a series of demonstrations took place in Stockholm, The Hague and Copenhagen, where copies of the Koran – the holy book of Muslims – were burned or desecrated.

An extremist who burned copies of the Koran in the capitals of Sweden and Denmark says he is protesting Turkey’s veto of Sweden joining NATO.