ANGELA MERKEL VS. RECEP ERDOGAN

News.am
16:25 / 01/29/2010

According to the survey "At Home in Europe – Muslims in Europe"
conducted by the London-based Open Society Institute, 75% of Muslims
living in Germany do not identify themselves with Germans. Referring
to the survey, the Yerkramas newspaper published by the Armenian
community in Russia, Germany showed the worst result, as Muslims
feel more "at home" in all the other European states. Specifically,
70% of Muslims residing in London, and 82% residing in Leicester,
identify themselves with the British.

Boris Kharkovsky, expert for the Center of Ethnic & Political Studies,
gives a simple explanation: unlike other European countries, most
of the Muslims residing in Germany are ethnic Turks. "Most of the
Muslims residing in Germany do not identify themselves with their
country of residence, as they are Turks. During their history Turks
have shown aggression toward other peoples – both inside and outside
Turkey. We can only remember regular Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Kurd
genocides, Turks’ wars with their neighbors, invasion of Cyprus,
xenophobia reigning in the country," the expert said.

Turks retain this mentality outside Turkey as well, which is greatly
supported by the Turkish authorities’ pan-Turkic inclinations,
Kharkovsky said. "They in Germany well remember Turkish Premier
Recep Erdogan’s visit in 2008. Speaking before 20,000 Turks at a
Koln stadium, the Turkish Premier called on his nationals to resist
integration into the German society, receive education in Turkish
and realize their power. ‘You are three millions already,’ stated
Erdogan," Kharkovsky said. His statement caused indignation among
Turkish politicians. Wolfgang Schauble, who was then Federal Minister
of the Interior, stated that "Erdogan brought Turkish nationalism
to the German land." He expressed doubts that a state with leaders
holding views like that would hardly joint the European Union.

Angela Merkel had to remind the Turkish Premier that she was still
Chancellor of Germany and, therefore, of the Turks residing in the
country. "If a person comes to Germany, he or she must observe the
country’s laws instead of hearing foreign statesmen’s prompts – what
he or she must or must not do, to what extent to integrate and how
to behave," Merkel said.