Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller called upon on Monday all sides involved in the spreading conflict over the Mohammed caricatures to seek dialogue to resolve the situation, the Copenhagen Post reported on Monday.

At a press conference in Copenhagen, Moeller emphasized that the escalating crisis about caricatures of the prophet Mohammed extends beyond Denmark now, and the situation was no longer something that Denmark alone could control.

"This is a crisis that is much bigger than Denmark. This crisis is an attack on cooperation between the Western and Muslim worlds, " he said, adding that the stakes had also increased dramatically with the weekend's developments.

The press conference could be seen as part of the government's proactive attempts to engage media in Muslim countries and to build an international consensus rejecting the mob mentality that led to Denmark's embassy in Damascus and its consulate in Beirut being burned.

"It is very important that we realize that we have noting to win from this confrontation. We all stand to loose a lot because it is now in the hands of the extremists and fanatics who do not want a dialog of cultures and cooperation between the Western and the Muslim governments," Moeller said.

Moeller also said that he had contacted the Syrian government to demand an explanation for why police in Damascus reportedly did not step in to prevent protesters from destroying the Danish embassy there on Saturday.

"I made it very clear that we want an investigation of how this could happen because it is damaging to the relationship between their government and Denmark and to the entire diplomatic system," he said.

Moeller said that the government's work in the coming days would be to help get the message out to people in the Middle East that religious leaders in the region have expressed their support for Danish initiatives to end the conflict.

Source: Xinhua