This is my translation of Jyllands-Posten's apology in Arabic. I will say again that my Arabic is very basic and translating from a dictionary can lead to misinterpretation. I will be glad to hear from any Arabic speaker if this translation is accurate.
To the honorable citizens of the Saudi-Arabian kingdom,
Allow me with this opportunity to correct the misunderstanding that happened round the drawings of the prophet Mohammed, and that caused you to a boycott of Danish products in your country. These drawings were published 4 months ago in Danish dialog about appropriate expression of an idea and it is a very important right [expression] in Denmark.
This publication was drawn and seemed like an attack against Muslims in Denmark and the Muslim world and that is what I wanted to correct.
There was no intent of the newspaper to offend anyone in his religious beliefs but this regretfully did not indeed happen but without intent.
We already apologized numerous times in the past few months in our newspaper, in other newspapers, on television, on radio and on international media.
And so we started meetings with agents from the Muslim exiles (community] in Denmark and these meetings paid in a constructive atmosphere and like this we will solve in another way to build constructive dialog between Muslims and Danes.
We at Jyllands-Posten regret that the issue got to such a degree and so we will repeat and say that it was not our intention to offend anybody and we believe an example remains of the Danish community in respect to freedom of religion.
With respect,
Carsten Juste
Chief Editor
Read also in the newspaper's opinion "the free word" about:
http://www.jp.dk/meninger/ncartikel:aid=3318106
3 comments:
watch out for your translation of the word "apologized"!! In danish it is "beklaget" which means to "regret" or "be sorry for" but it is NOT the same as "undskyld": "i am sorry or i apologize" or "i beg your pardon"
"Apologize" would mean to admit wrongdoing and withdrawing. That is not what Mr. Juste is doing and he has at all times refrained from doing so.. it is the reaction he is sorry about, not that they published the drawings.
The correct sentence would be something like:
"It was not our intention to offend anyones beliefs. That it has happened anyway was therefore unintentional. We have regretted that many times during these last months..."
mikkel, enough
The word in Arabic in my dictionary says "sorry", which does tend more towards "regret" than "apology".
I guess the question is more what they apologized/regretted - in this case, the misunderstanding itself.
Mikkel, could you please post a translation of the Danish apology?
I've also been looking everywhere for an English translation of the original article on Jyllands-Posten. Do you know where I could get it?
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