Erzurum has been stripped of its right to host this year's World Junior Curling Championships ©Wikipedia

Next month's World Junior Curling Championships has been moved from Turkey to Denmark because of fears over terrorism.

The event had originally been awarded to Erzurum, in eastern Turkey, but now been re-allocated to Copenhagen.

It will now take place at the Taarnby Curling Club in the Danish capital between March 5 and 13, the same scheduled dates as before.

"The event was originally due to be hosted in Erzurum, Turkey...but the World Curling Federation Board has taken the decision to move the Championships for a number of reasons," the World Curling Federation (WCF) said in a short statement.

A suicide car bombing in Turkey's capital Ankara last Wednesday (February 24) killed 28 people.

A bomb blast in Turkey's capital Ankara last week killed 28 people ©Getty Images
A bomb blast in Turkey's capital Ankara last week killed 28 people ©Getty Images

Turkish security forces have been engaged in large-scale operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party terrorists in the southeast of the country since December, imposing controversial curfews in flashpoint areas, and the fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians.

Turkey has also been helping efforts led by the United States to combat the ISIL group in neighboring Syria, and has faced several deadly bombings in the last year that were blamed on ISIL.

The Syrian war, meanwhile, is raging along Turkey's southern border.

Recent airstrikes by Russian and Syrian forces have prompted tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to flee to Turkey's border.

Turkey so far has refused to let them in, despite being urged to do so by the United Nations and European nations.

Its relations with Moscow are also fragile following the shooting down of a Russian warplane in November.

Taarnby Curling Club in Copenhagen will be the new host of this year's World Junior Curling Championships ©Taarnby Curling Club
Taarnby Curling Club in Copenhagen will be the new host of this year's World Junior Curling Championships ©Taarnby Curling Club

The decision by the WCF has been condemned by officials in Erzurum, located more than 800 kilometres from both the Syrian border and Ankara.

Fatih Yesilyurt, chairman of the local AK Party, Turkey's ruling group, claimed it was an "ignorant" decision and "totally unacceptable".

"Erzurum is an extremely safe city," he said.

"There is no risk of terrorism here."

Erzurum hosted the 2011 Winter Universiade and has been awarded the 2017 Winter European Youth Olympic Festival. 

The city had also staged the 2012 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships. 

It has been announced that VoIP Defender will be the main sponsor of the event in Denmark.