Tag: Xenophobia

  • Turkey Warns Against Rising Racism In Europe

    Turkey Warns Against Rising Racism In Europe

    5/9/2012 2:18 AM ET

    (RTTNews) – Turkish President Abdullah Gül has warned that xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia are threatening Europe’s own values and advised the 27-member European Union bloc to continue with an open vision.

    no racism“It’s my sincere wish that this threat will be prevented from gaining more ground that will lead the EU to turn further in on itself and to harm the universal values that it pioneers,” Gül said in a statement on the occasion of ‘Europe Day’ on Tuesday.

    He urged EU countries to free themselves of “baseless worries” about Turkey’s EU negotiations and to remove “the artificial barriers” raised on its road to accession as he reaffirmed Turkey’s objective of full membership.

    Describing Turkey’s aspirations to join the EU as part of the country’s strategic vision, Gül said it was for both sides to crown Turkey’s half-century long journey with this end. A potential Turkish membership in the EU will strengthen the bloc’s global position in the fields of energy, economy, foreign policy and security, Gül was quoted by Turkish media as saying.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also issued a statement saying that the government’s efforts at raising democratic norms through a set of reform packages were evidence of its will to join the EU.

    by RTT Staff Writer

    via Turkey Warns Against Rising Racism In Europe.

  • Sarrazin under fire for anti-Muslim views

    Sarrazin under fire for anti-Muslim views

    Thilo SarrazinBundesbank official Thilo Sarrazin faced increasing pressure from across the political spectrum due to his controversial views on Muslims and immigrants on Thursday, as calls grew for him to leave the Social Democrats (SPD) and his central bank post.

    More politicians joined in the chorus of outrage over Sarrazin’s comments regarding foreigners in a new book he has written and which are widely seen as inflammatory and xenophobic.

    In an excerpt from his book published by daily Bild on Thursday, Sarrazin said there were “good grounds” for reservations against Muslims across Europe.

    “There is no other religion with such a flowing transition to violence, dictatorship, and terrorism,” he claimed, before making the equally provocative assertion that Muslim immigrants were “associated with taking advantage of social welfare state and criminality.”

    Along with members of the Greens and the Left party, politicians from the conservative Christian Democrats are now calling for him to give up his seat on the central bank’s board. Members of his own party said Sarrazin was “abusing” the SPD’s name.

    “Those who pour blanket scorn on individual groups are playing a perfidious game with fears and prejudices,” said SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles on Thursday. “That has nothing in common with the values and convictions of the SPD.”

    Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger of the pro-business FDP party called Sarrazin’s theories “confused and unbearable.”

    “Germany is a country of immigration and we can be proud of the liberal values and openness of our society,” she said.

    The head of the Social Democrats in Berlin, Michael Müller, said it was possible the party would take new steps to kick the 65-year-old former Berlin’s finance senator out of the party. Sarrazin survived a previous attempt this year to revoke his party membership for previous controversial comments.

    Sarrazin’s new book, called Deutschland schafft sich ab – Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen, or “Abolishing Germany – How we’re putting our country in jeopardy,” is due to be released on Monday. In the book, Sarrazin warns that Germans could become “strangers in their own country” because of integration. He plans to begin a book tour beginning next week.

    The Green party has said it wants to begin a parliamentary procedure in which the Bundesbank and the government recommend Sarrazin be dismissed from his central bank position, a motion which would then be accepted by Germany’s president. The Left party has also called on Bundesbank directors to distance themselves from their controversial colleague.

    “A top official who tries to agitate people is unacceptable,” said Left party head Gesine Lötzsch.

    This is not the first time Sarrazin has sparked controversy with his views. In September 2009 he made anti-immigrant remarks against Arabs and Turks in an interview with Lettre International magazine.

    He claimed that “a great many Arabs and Turks in [Berlin], whose numbers have grown because of the wrong policies, have no productive function other than as fruit and vegetable grocers.”

    Though he apologised for those remarks, Sarrazin refused to step down from the Bundesbank’s board despite pressure to do so. He was however symbolically punished when the institution stripped him of some responsibilities after the incident, which caused widespread outrage.

    “With Thilo Sarrazin, it’s just a continual offence,” said Green party parliamentary group leader Renate Künast on Thursday.

    , 26 Aug 10

  • Turkish community demands more government pressure on Sarrazin

    Turkish community demands more government pressure on Sarrazin

    SarrazinThe chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) has called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to send a clear signal condemning anti-Muslim comments by Bundesbank official Thilo Sarrazin, according to a Saturday report.

    “I ask the German government to initiate proceedings to dismiss Thilo Sarrazin from the Bundesbank board,” Turkish community leader Kenan Kolat told German daily Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday.

    Kolat said the Bundesbank official’s comments, which appear in Sarrazin’s forthcoming book, had crossed the line. “It is the culmination of a new intellectual racism and it hurts Germany’s reputation abroad,” Kolat told the newspaper.

    In an excerpt from his book published by daily Bild on Thursday, Sarrazin said there were “good grounds” for reservations against Muslims across Europe.

    “There is no other religion with such a flowing transition to violence, dictatorship, and terrorism,” he claimed, before making the equally provocative assertion that Muslim immigrants were “associated with taking advantage of social welfare state and criminality.”

    Kolat praised the broader government response to Sarrazin’s statements, including criticisms voiced by the SPD leadership, the Green Party, the Left and integration commissioner Maria Böhmer, as well as Angela Merkel herself.

    “I’m very pleased that the German chancellor spoke so clearly of defamation,” he said. Kolat also thanked the Central Council of Jews in Germany for its clear condemnation of Sarrazin’s comments.

    Lest the Social Democrats alienate migrant voters, Kolat said he was confident that his party would take further steps to kick Sarrazin out of the SPD. “He’ll go himself, or he’ll be made to leave,” he said. The Bundesbank official survived a previous attempt this year to revoke his party membership for previous controversial comments.

    Sarrazin’s book, “Deutschland schafft sich ab – Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen, or “Abolishing Germany – How we’re putting our country in jeopardy,” is scheduled for publication on Monday. Kolat encouraged a media boycott of the press conference planned to announce the book’s official release.

    , 28 Aug 10

  • Turkish community warns of continued racism in Germany

    Turkish community warns of continued racism in Germany

    (IRNA) – Germany’s Turkish community warned of continued racism in the country, while marking the 15th anniversary of an anti-foreigner arson attack in the western city of Solingen which killed five Turkish women and girls, the press reported Thursday.

    There is still a high degree of xenophobia in Germany society which has to be combated through better education, stressed the Turkish community of Germany (TGD) and the Foundation of Turkish Studies (ZfT) in a statement.

    “Aggressive behaviour and prejudices are already being taught at the age of a child. Therefore, one must act pedagogically at an early stage,” ZfT director, Faruk Sen was quoted saying.

    There are 7.5 million foreigners living in Germany of which 2.5 million are Turks.

    A recent confidential government report revealed widespread xenophobia among millions of teenagers in Germany.

    Almost every German youth said there are too many foreigners living in Germany.

    Nearly every 9th grader has Islamophobic tendencies while every 13 teenager admits to having committed a right-wing motivated criminal act.

    Germany has been the scene of a series of vicious neo-Nazi attacks in recent months, especially against foreigners.

    German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has repeatedly warned of a growing far-right problem in his country, branding it a “steadily growing danger.”

    Schaeuble had voiced concern that the number of far-right crimes between 2005 and 2006 rose from 15,000 to 18,000 offenses, indicating a 9.3 percent increase.

    Meanwhile, the number of anti-foreigner attacks hovered at 511 in 2006, showing a 37 percent rise from the previous year.

    Political observers link the dramatic rise in the number of far-right crimes to the recent success of neo-Nazi parties in key regional elections in several east German states.

    Young neo-Nazis feel also more and more emboldened to commit hate crimes, knowing that police won’t charge them with an offense.

    Most of the suspects implicated in far-right crimes are juveniles.

    Hate crime experts and sociologists have repeatedly stressed that Germany’s political leadership lacked a clear and effective strategy to fight neo-Nazi and racist crimes.

    The Journail of Turkish Weekly