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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 11:49:38 GMT -7
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Post by kaima on Dec 6, 2009 12:02:04 GMT -7
Words from a Swiss:
Switzerland’s Invisible Minarets By PETER STAMM
Winterthur, Switzerland
THREE years ago I was invited to the Tehran International Book Fair; afterward I traveled around the country. The mosques I visited were so empty as to give the impression that Iran was as secular as Western Europe.
It wasn’t until I took a trip to a place of pilgrimage in the mountains that I saw large numbers of the faithful. The traffic started piling up even before my group reached the town of Imamzadeh Davood. A few of the pilgrims were making the trek on foot, together with the sheep they intended to sacrifice. The narrow streets were bustling just as at Christian places of pilgrimage: booths crammed with junk, groups of teenagers taking pictures of each other, every nook and cranny packed with candles lighted by believers in the hope their wishes would be fulfilled.
I was received by the mayor and invited to dinner — the first Swiss he had ever met. He showed me the mosque and led me to the tomb of the saint. I, the unbeliever, was allowed into places where even pilgrims were not permitted. During my three weeks in Iran, my faith, or rather the lack thereof, was never an issue. However bellicose the political face of Islam often appears, in everyday practice what I experienced was a religion of hospitality and tolerance.
Switzerland, on the other hand, appeared alarmingly intolerant last weekend, when 58 percent of our voters approved a ban on the building of new minarets. When the minaret referendum was proposed by the rightist Swiss People’s Party, no one really took it seriously.
Some consideration was given to having it declared invalid on the grounds that it was unconstitutional as well as a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, but in the end the government agreed to allow the referendum to go forward, probably in the hope that it would be roundly defeated and thereby become a symbol of Swiss open-mindedness. So certain were the politicians of prevailing that hardly any publicity was fielded against the initiative. As a result, the streets were dominated by the proponents’ posters, which showed a veiled woman in front of a forest of minarets that looked like missiles.
Minarets have never been a problem in Switzerland. There are four in the entire country, some of which have been standing for decades. (One of them is in my city but I’ve never seen it.) And only two other minarets were being planned. Most mosques are in faceless industrial districts where no one notices them. But perhaps that is exactly the problem. Islamic immigrants don’t live with us but beside us, just as French, German, Italian and Romansch-speaking Swiss live alongside each other without a great deal of animosity — or interaction.
The average Swiss citizen has no real contact with Islam. Headscarves are seldom seen on the street, and chadors are practically nonexistent. Moreover, when young proponents of the ban talk about problems with Muslims, they almost exclusively mean young men from the Balkans, who come across as male chauvinists but are almost never active members of Muslim communities. Most people encounter Islam only through the news media, which don’t report on the Muslims in our country but focus on terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Iranian plans for an atomic bomb and Muammar el-Qaddafi’s absurd proposal to abolish Switzerland.
It’s hard to find one overarching explanation for why the Swiss voted as they did. Similar referendums have brought surprises: 35 percent of voters wanting to do away with the army, for instance, or 58 percent approving of same-sex partnerships. The prevailing Swiss attitude is both conservative and liberal: on the one hand everything should stay the way it is, on the other everyone should be able to do what he or she wants.
What’s most conspicuous in these referendums is that we are a nation of pragmatists, inclined to our dour obstinacy, and we owe our success not to grand ideas but to problem-solving. So focused are we on getting things done, it almost doesn’t matter if the problem isn’t a problem, or if the solution risks sullying the country’s reputation. We Swiss sacrificed our good standing as a multicultural and open-minded society to ban the construction of minarets that no one intends to build in order to defend ourselves against an Islam that has never existed in Switzerland.
Perhaps Muslims here are more Swiss than the rest of us might think. They too will solve the problem we’ve made for them: they are likely to swallow the results of this referendum, do without their minarets and continue to assemble for prayer, unnoticed and unperturbed.
Peter Stamm is the author of the novel “On a Day Like This.” This essay was translated by Philip Boehm from the German.
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 12:37:28 GMT -7
It’s hard to find one overarching explanation for why the Swiss voted as they did. Similar referendums have brought surprises: 35 percent of voters wanting to do away with the army, for instance, or 58 percent approving of same-sex partnerships. The prevailing Swiss attitude is both conservative and liberal: on the one hand everything should stay the way it is, on the other everyone should be able to do what he or she wants. What’s most conspicuous in these referendums is that we are a nation of pragmatists, inclined to our dour obstinacy, and we owe our success not to grand ideas but to problem-solving. So focused are we on getting things done, it almost doesn’t matter if the problem isn’t a problem, or if the solution risks sullying the country’s reputation. We Swiss sacrificed our good standing as a multicultural and open-minded society to ban the construction of minarets that no one intends to build in order to defend ourselves against an Islam that has never existed in Switzerland. Perhaps Muslims here are more Swiss than the rest of us might think. They too will solve the problem we’ve made for them: they are likely to swallow the results of this referendum, do without their minarets and continue to assemble for prayer, unnoticed and unperturbed. Kaima, The way Peter Stamm describes the Swiss above here looks like a description I could give of the present day Dutch population. Except that the Dutch do have experiance with Muslims of various nationalities, with Mosques with and without minarets, and the positive and negative aspects of that. Many Dutch would like to follow the Swiss referendums example, that they would have the right about how many more mosques with minarets would be allowed. We have 450 mosques in the Netherlands and dousens of mosques with minarets. In some area's or neighbourhoods in the larger cities the native Dutch are a minority and Islam and other non-islamic immigrants dominate. You have also non-Western christian dominations with churches and customs that are differant from the European Catholic and Protestant churches and Western-European Evangelical communities that exist. For instance the Arabic Syrian-orthodox (Assyrian) and Armenian churches, Egyptian Coptic christians, Chaldean (Iraqi) christians, Palestinian and Lebanese christians. Next to that you have a lot of African churches and communities. But the Islam is dominant in some neighbourhoods and towns with large migrant (Turkish, Maroccan or other) communities. The native Dutch people often feel threatened by this, because Maroccan and Turkish youth (and young men) can dominate neighbourhoods, streets, boulevards and squares. (like in the article the young men from the Balkans, who come across as agressive male chauvinists but hardly ever visit a mosque) *There is a crime, intimidation and vandalism problem with these guys. Due to this the Swiss majority vote against minarets (and so serious mosques) is popular among a large part of Dutch citizens. The traditional non-voters who are disappointed in politics and politicians and the large following of Geert Wilder Party for Freedom, which is a party like the the rightist Swiss People’s Party! Geert Wilders already proposed a Dutch referendum about the minarets. Most democratic parties in the Netherlands (from left to right) aren't anti-islamic and in local and regional situations many Muslim communities were allowed to built their mosques, with or without minarets. (and without state funding and subsidaries) Pieter * Maroccan intimidates Dutch teacher: Violent Maroccan gangs: There is a problem with Maroccan lover boys (pimps), Maroccan coke dealers, Maroccan streetviolence (Gangs of thugs who rule in a neighjbourhood or street). The problem is that there is a cooperation between these newcommers and the hard core of the old Dutch criminals, Turks, Kurds, Yugoslavians, Albanians, Russians, Southern-American cartels (Coke maffia and hitsquads), Bulgarians and Rumanians. The Italian maffia is back too! Turkish Nationalist demonstration in Utrecht against the Kurd PKK: Kurd Nationalist demonstration (Pro-PKK) agains the Turkish opression in The Hague: Maroccans attack police station, burn a car and attack journalists: The Maroccan Amsterdam alderman Ahmed Marcouch is fed up with the agressive,violent Maroccan youth who intimidate fellow citizens, attack the police and threaten journalists who do their job propperly. He wanted tough measures. (the bleading colored man was a journalist who was beaten by Maroccan youth).
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 13:54:37 GMT -7
Anti-mosque and Pro-mosque demonstrators in Germany
In contrast with the USA all over Western, and parts of central Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) there is a tension between a growing Islam (in various forms, pluriform; secular-Islam, a liberal Islam and mainly a mainstream conservative Islam form Turkey and Northern-Africa -Marocco, Algeria and Tunesia-) and native Europeans who are not at ease with that! These oponents of a growing Islam is left and rightwing. In the centre a lot of political parties demand a stricter integration and a better control of mosques and Muslim schools (wether there are radical preachings, anti-western rethorics or the (call for) message of isolationalism for Muslim migrants and anti-Western Islamist ideology or propaganda).
There are questions asked about the organisations, individuals (Sheikh, Sultan or wealthy Islamic businessman) or states (Turkey, Saoudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab emirates or Syria) who fund, support finationaly or founded the mosques in Western-Europe.
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 14:27:54 GMT -7
This is how the street looks like in the evening or at night in neighbourhoods of the larger Dutch cities and Dutch towns too.
Kids, teenagers and jung men without a job or purpous in life hang out on the streets and squares whole afternoons, evenings and parts of the nights. Their parents don't have the control in their families, kids (5/6 until 12 13 years old) play on the streets until 24.00 hours (while they should be in bed). There they get the wrong in fluence of their older brothers, their friends and strangers who are 15, 16, 17,18 until 23 years old. It's a disaster say Dutch natives, other (developped and disciplined working) Maroccans (who are herassed and terrorised too), Turks, Kurds and other migrants. Their parents often can't read or write, and are primitive mountain people from the Maroccan Rif mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco and Algeria. Even Egyptians or Tunesians with a snackbar or shop were terrised, robed or their places ransacked. Turks and Kurds often have their own shops, a job, their agency, family firm or (mostly) are just more quiet people. The same is the case with the often more developped alsylumseekers from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and for instance Bosnia-Herzegovina. There are intellectuals amongst them, but also skilled workers, educated farmers and people with strong family ties or connections. The Dutch have less problems with them then with the troublesom Maroccans, Antillians (Carebian youth), Cape Verdians, some of the Turks, native touble youth (Dutch white trash, criminal elements, hard core hooligans, drugs dealing or addicted youth. A minority of the majority of the Dutch youth). A problem is as I already mentioned the wrong mix of criminal Maroccan boys and young men and Dutch outcasts (often Dutch girls who fell in the hands of Maroccans lover boys or coke dealers), and criminal Turkish, Kurd and for instance Somali elements. The Somalians are a differant case amongst the refugees (asylum seekers). They are a troublesom group to with conflicts with other groups in society. There were for instance tensions between Somalians and Iraqi Kurds, but also with Turks. The ethnic society in the Nehterlands is a delicate balance. There are improvements, because succesful Maroccans and just hardworking law-abiding Maroccan citizens are fed up with the negative news and image of the Maroccan and the Maroccan community in the Dutch society. Maroccan groups of "Good guys", ordinairy, moderate and well functioning citizens want tougher measures against "their Maroccan youth", a tougher police, stricter regulations, tougher laws and more supervision and control of the Maroccan community and Maroccan parents on the Maroccan youth.
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Post by tuftabis on Dec 6, 2009 14:33:37 GMT -7
It’s hard to find one overarching explanation for why the Swiss voted as they did. Similar referendums have brought surprises: 35 percent of voters wanting to do away with the army, for instance, or 58 percent approving of same-sex partnerships. The prevailing Swiss attitude is both conservative and liberal: on the one hand everything should stay the way it is, on the other everyone should be able to do what he or she wants. What’s most conspicuous in these referendums is that we are a nation of pragmatists, inclined to our dour obstinacy, and we owe our success not to grand ideas but to problem-solving. So focused are we on getting things done, it almost doesn’t matter if the problem isn’t a problem, or if the solution risks sullying the country’s reputation. We Swiss sacrificed our good standing as a multicultural and open-minded society to ban the construction of minarets that no one intends to build in order to defend ourselves against an Islam that has never existed in Switzerland. Perhaps Muslims here are more Swiss than the rest of us might think. They too will solve the problem we’ve made for them: they are likely to swallow the results of this referendum, do without their minarets and continue to assemble for prayer, unnoticed and unperturbed. Kaima, The way Peter Stamm describes the Swiss above here looks like a description I could give of the present day Dutch population. Except that the Dutch do have experiance with Muslims of various nationalities, with Mosques with and without minarets, and the positive and negative aspects of that. Many Dutch would like to follow the Swiss referendums example, that they would have the right about how many more mosques with minarets would be allowed. We have 450 mosques in the Netherlands and dousens of mosques with minarets. In some area's or neighbourhoods in the larger cities the native Dutch are a minority and Islam and other non-islamic immigrants dominate. You have also non-Western christian dominations with churches and customs that are differant from the European Catholic and Protestant churches and Western-European Evangelical communities that exist. For instance the Arabic Syrian-orthodox (Assyrian) and Armenian churches, Egyptian Coptic christians, Chaldean (Iraqi) christians, Palestinian and Lebanese christians. Next to that you have a lot of African churches and communities. But the Islam is dominant in some neighbourhoods and towns with large migrant (Turkish, Maroccan or other) communities. The native Dutch people often feel threatened by this, because Maroccan and Turkish youth (and young men) can dominate neighbourhoods, streets, boulevards and squares. (like in the article the young men from the Balkans, who come across as agressive male chauvinists but hardly ever visit a mosque) *There is a crime, intimidation and vandalism problem with these guys. Due to this the Swiss majority vote against minarets (and so serious mosques) is popular among a large part of Dutch citizens. The traditional non-voters who are disappointed in politics and politicians and the large following of Geert Wilder Party for Freedom, which is a party like the the rightist Swiss People’s Party! Geert Wilders already proposed a Dutch referendum about the minarets. Most democratic parties in the Netherlands (from left to right) aren't anti-islamic and in local and regional situations many Muslim communities were allowed to built their mosques, with or without minarets. (and without state funding and subsidaries) There's an important difference between Switzerland and Holland, however. The Swiss since a very long time have a very strict immigration policy. You can't obtain Swiss citizenship in a short time, unless... you are rich. Even then the locals that know you must agree in kind of a referendum. In result, the Muslims that live in Switzerland are uncomparable in their mass to those living in the Netherlands. Besides we should remember that in Switzerlad till now the minarets were usually not allowed to be build and the decisions were explained on the 'building law' basis. Now it is has gone political. Why? Perhaps the Swiss are the first Western European nation to notice that cultural millieu is at list as important as the natural millieu, while only one of the two is well defended in Europe till now....
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 15:04:20 GMT -7
There's an important difference between Switzerland and Holland, however. The Swiss since a very long time have a very strict immigration policy. You can't obtain Swiss citizenship in a short time, unless... you are rich. Even then the locals that know you must agree in kind of a referendum. In result, the Muslims that live in Switzerland are uncomparable in their mass to those living in the Netherlands. Besides we should remember that in Switzerlad till now the minarets were usually not allowed to be build and the decisions were explained on the 'building law' basis. Now it is has gone political. Why? Perhaps the Swiss are the first Western European nation to notice that cultural millieu is at list as important as the natural millieu, while only one of the two is well defended in Europe till now.... Tufta, You are absolutely right! Good description of the situation and the differances between Switserland and the Netherlands and other more liberal Western-European countries (like Denmark, Germany and Belgium, who have the same problems as the Netherlands). Pieter P.S.- The Scandinavian countries have huge problems with immigrants and a part of their own native youth and young adults too, due to the Scandinavian social security wellfare states structure or system. That system went farther then the Dutch system (except the softdrugslaws which are stricter in Scandinavian countries), because the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians were and are more liberal and social then the Dutch with their wellfare state. The Dutch allready backed off in the eightees and ninetees with stricter labour market laws and less easy acces to Unemployment benefits and social benefits.
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 15:46:10 GMT -7
Profile: Tariq Ramadan, controversial bridge builderplayer.omroep.nl/?aflID=10353311(partly Dutch, but the English Ramadan phrases are interesting. That's why I post the topic here)
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 18:31:42 GMT -7
Muslims prosper in Catholic Poland
Poland's Muslim community makes up only a tiny fraction of the country's population. But with immigration from places like Turkey, Pakistan and Chechnya on the rise, the numbers can only grow. And Muslims are intent on gaining understanding and respect, whether they've been there for centuries or just a few years.
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Post by pieter on Dec 6, 2009 18:49:50 GMT -7
The Message of Islam from the centre from Islam:
It describes the religion well! (The Polska above the video has no meaning, because the video and message has nothing to do with Poland. Poland is a country of the Catholic faith, the christian church and the message from the New Testament in the bible, the word and message of Jesus Christ and the important rol of his mother, Maria in the Polish faith, due to the Black Madonna).
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Post by pieter on Dec 7, 2009 8:56:29 GMT -7
Polish Muslims call for change in law to recognise Islamic weddings
Warsaw - Polish Muslims want to change a 1936 law that requires them to pray for Poland and the country's president, Polish Radio reported Wednesday. The Muslim community also want days off for Islamic religious holidays, in the predominantly Catholic country, and to recognise weddings in mosques.
The current law requires all Polish Muslims to mention the Republic of Poland and the president during Friday prayers, and regulates relations between the state and the Muslim Religious Association.
"A Muslim religious wedding still doesn't have civil effects," said Pawel Borecki, of the Religious Law faculty at the University of Warsaw. "Followers of Islam also still do not have a guaranteed right to celebrate their holidays."
Poland's Foreign Ministry is currently working with Polish Muslims on a draft bill that will abolish the required prayer for Poland and change the legal status of the country's Muslims.
The new law would allow Muslims to take days off for religious holidays and would make a marriage in a mosque equal to a civil marriage, reported the broadcaster TVP Info.
Settlements of Poland's first Muslims date back to the 14th century, when Tatars made their home in the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth and practiced Islam freely in exchange for military service.
Today most estimate there are some 30,000 Muslims in Poland including some 2,000 Tatars. Muslims make up less than 0.1 per cent of the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population.
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Post by pieter on Dec 7, 2009 16:53:53 GMT -7
Monday evening I was in the Arnhem city hall attending the city council meeting there to follow differant committees with the subjects of the evening. One of the topics was the new Aya Sofia Mosque which should come in the place of the old Roman-Catholic Sint Jan Primary school in the Old workingclass neighbourhood Klarendal. That school has an emotional and cultural (history and neighbourhood school architecture) value to many of the native Dutch citizens, who often attended the school in the past (Arnhem 'was' mainly a Catholic city in the past), or their children or relatives. In photoalbums, stories of the neighbourhood Klarendal and about the past of Klarendal the primary school plays a role. The future Aya Sofia Mosque is the wish of the Islamic Union (Islamitische Unie;part of the larger Turkish Millî Görüş organisation), who want a bigger mosque with minarets, because a mosque without minarets in their eyes is not a mosque. The chairman of the organisation, Bahaeddin Budak, statet that there are also Catholic churches, protestant churches and a large synagogue who have the characteristics of the religious buildings of Christianity and Judaism, with church towers with bells. He state, why should an Islamic place of worship should not have the Islamic characteristics of a mosque? Bahaeddin BudakThe Alderman Barth van Eeten (GreenLeft) and his the executive board of the Arnhem municipality are Pro-mosque on the place of the old school, with or without one or two minarets (that's in his eyes the choice of the Islamic Union). The Turkish organisation has to finance the mosque with it's own means, because due the separation of church and state the municipality won't pay a penny (via subsidizing or loans). Alderman Barth van EetenThe majority of the native populations is against a large mosque with minarets, replacing ' their' old school and with a lot of traffic from worshippers who go to pray and follow services in the mosque and visitors of the Islamic community centre, Turkish shops and coffeehouse next to the planned mosque. The native population is not against a proporionate, small mosque for the neighbourhoods Turkish Muslim community. They find a large mosque not suitable for their neighbourhood, not fitting in the landscape and the characteristics of the " Dutch" neighbourhood with a lot of immigrants. The meeting was tense due to a large group of demonstrators with large banners against demolishment of the school and the replacement with a mosque. There was a rough atmosphere due to the traditional workingclass nature of the neighbourhood and the ditrusts towards the political parties represented in the council and the the executive board of a municipality (the mayor and the aldermen). There were equolent speakers, emotional speeches and questions were asked. The native Dutch side did not always have patience for the arguments of other side! Budak was an exellent speaker in Dutch with a Turkish accent. But like Tarik Ramadan above here I have no idea where I should place him or what to exactly to think of him? Is he a wolve in sheepsclothes or just an intelligent sincere Muslim intellectual who tries to built a bridge of understanding with the native Dutch neighbours in his neighbourhood? The atmosphere was tense and polarised and the chairman of this Committee sometimes had a hard task to keep the order in the council chamber. Before this meeting the Dutch and the Turkish civilians tried to cooperate, but the Islamic Union went a solo course demanding a larger mosque for approximately 1,000 worshippers. The Arnhem municipality only allows a mosque for 200 worshippers a time (normal service) and 500 on special holidays and religious celebrations. There was a visible culture gap between the Dutch native majority and the Turkish muslims, who are supported by the municipality (Alderman van Eeten). You could speek of a 'mild' clash of civilizations. Council member Jurgen Elfrink of the Arnhem branch of the Socialist Party pointed at the connection of the " Islamic Union" of Arnhem with the German branch of Millî Görüş, an ultra-conservative (fundamentalist) Turkish Muslim organisation, which got negative headlines in Germany this week, after charges of corruption, Fraud and being a totalitarian (theocratic) movement. Jurgen told the meeting that the German police had rounded up dousen's of offices and homes of the Islamic organisation. He pointed at the fact that in the Arnhem the Islamic cultural foundation that stands behind the to be built mosque and their "inofficial" neighbourhood mosque is controled or owned by the German branch of Millî Görüş! Socialist Party, council member Jurgen Elfrink Green Left Committee member Michiel Boerstal Elfrink was attacked by Green Left Committee member Michiel Boerstal for his statement that the German branch of the German branch of Millî Görüş was involved in criminal activity, because in his opinion the Dutch mosque in Arnhem had to do with the Dutch Millî Görüş which was declared clean by the Dutch authorities. Neglecting the fact of the German-Turkish connection. Ofcourse he stood by his alderman van Eeten (GreenLeft) who is in the unusual three party coalition of PvdA (Social-democatic), CDA (Christian-democratic) and GreenLeft. This file goes on and on and on januari 11th 2010 this topic will be dealt with in a continued meeting in which the character of the meeting will be opinionating before it goes to the decision making final stage! The monday meeting of the committee was informing. So there are three stages in the Dutch political process of the city council. Pieter P.S.- This is the job I do! I made an audio recording of the meeting, which I will edit for tomorrows late afternoon newsprogram of Radio Arnhem.
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Post by pieter on Dec 7, 2009 18:41:43 GMT -7
Millî Görüş
In 1975 the Turkish Islamist politician Necmettin Erbakan published a manifesto that he gave the title Millî Görüş (English: The National View). It spoke only in the most general terms of Islamic moral and religious education but devoted much attention to industrialization, development and economic independence.
It warned against further rapprochement towards Europe, considering the Common Market to be a Zionist and Catholic project for the assimilation and de-Islamization of Turkey and called instead for closer economic co-operation with Muslim countries. The name of Millî Görüş would remain associated with a religio-political movement and a series of Islamist parties inspired by Erbakan, one succeeding the other as they were banned for violating Turkey’s secularist legislation.
Islamist rift
Following the ban of the Virtue Party (FP), a rift that had been developing in the movement resulted in two parties taking its place, the Felicity Party (SP) representing Erbakan’s old guard, and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by younger and more pragmatic politicians around Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who claim to have renounced on a specifically Islamist agenda. The AKP convincingly won the 2002 elections and formed a government with a strong popular mandate, that brought Turkey closer to acceptance for membership in the European Union than any previous government had done.
European Turkish Diaspora
Among the Turkish immigrants in Western Europe, Milli Görüş became one of the major, if not the major, religious movement, controlling numerous mosques. Like the movement in Turkey, it went through some remarkable changes, not least because the first generation, which was strongly oriented towards what happened in Turkey, is gradually surrendering leadership to a younger generation that grew up in Europe and is concerned with entirely different matters. Milli Görüş’ public profile shows considerable differences from one country to the next, suggesting that nature of the interaction with the ‘host’ societies may have as much of an impact on its character as a religious movement as the relationship with the ‘mother’ movement in Turkey.
The movement has 300,000 European members.
Millî Görüş mass meeting in Turkey
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Post by pieter on Dec 7, 2009 18:54:15 GMT -7
Next to Millî Görüş followers you have a lot of Turks in Arnhem and ohter Dutch towns and cities who go to Mosques of the Turkish moderate state organisation for mosques Diyanet! The Dutch branch is called Hollanda Diyanet Vakfi!
Here an article of the similar German branch:
Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs
The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (German: Türkisch-Islamische Union der Anstalt für Religion e.V., Turkish: Diyanet Işleri Türk-Islam Birliği, shortened DİTİB), is one of the largest Islamic organisations in Germany. It was founded in 1984 as a branch of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Ankara. The headquarters are in Cologne-Ehrenfeld.
The imams and the religious teachers are sent from Turkey. Because the state back then was almost bankrupt, the officials had to be paid with money from the Muslim World League, which provoked protest from secularists. The fixation on Turkey and the Turkish language proved to be a handicap, because other Islamic organisations used German language in public. The usage of German was seen by many to be more dialogue-friendly.
Organisation
When it was initially founded, around 230 associations were members; by 2005 the number was 870. The local associations are registered independently for legal and financial purposes, but share the goals and principles of DİTİB as their foundation. They also acknowledge DİTİB as their umbrella-organisation. It has a number of social and religious institutes.
2004 rally
Under the presidency of Rıdvan Çakır, DİTİB tries to present itself as a more integrated actor in German society. DİTİB was one of the initiators of the mass-event "Gemeinsam für Frieden und gegen Terror" (en: "Together for Peace and against Terror"). Over 20,000 Muslims participated in this demonstration, which was held on November 21, 2004 in Cologne. Participants who gave speeches included the Green Party politician Claudia Roth, Bavaria's Interior Minister Günther Beckstein and Fritz Behrens. The goal was to signal the disapproval of the use of violence in the name of Islam. It was one of the largest demonstrations of its kind in the history of Germany.
DITIB-Nürnberg Tanıtım
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Post by pieter on Dec 7, 2009 19:25:35 GMT -7
A third group is very active amongst European Turks in the Nehterlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Great-Britian too, the Grey Wolves.
Grey Wolves
Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar) or Idealist Youth (Turkish: Ülkücü Gençlik) is an ultra-nationalist neo-fascist youth organization of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP). It is accused of terrorism.
They are named after Asena, a female wolf in mythology associated with Turkic ethnic origins. Their formal name in Turkish is ülkücüler (idealists) and Ülkücü Hareket (The Idealist Movement), inspired from 19th Century Turkish writer Ziya Gökalp later developed by 20th century writer Nihal Atsız Ülkü Ocakları (Forges of Ideal), the proper platform of Grey Wolves, denies any "direct" links with MHP and presents itself as an independent youth organisation. Their female supporters are called Asena.
The Grey Wolves were the most visible force at the command of the Counter-Guerrilla; the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio. They were essentially pawns in the Cold War, harassing leftists on behalf of the rightist establishment. By using such paramilitary structures, the leaders were able to maintain a facade of plausible deniability. According to Turkish authorities, the organization carried out 694 murders from 1974–1980.
History
Foundation and ideology
The Grey Wolves were founded as the youth organization of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) created by Alparslan Türkeş in 1969. A significant pillar of the MHP's ideology is the dream of creating the Turan, the "Great Turkish Empire", including all Turkic peoples mainly in the successor Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union as well as the Caucasus and the Uygurs' homeland of East Turkestan in the Xinjiang province of Northwestern China.
The Grey Wolves also rally around Pan-Turkic Causes including: the economic isolation and territorial integrity of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; the Armenian military occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, and the subsequent displacement of Azeri civilians; the assimilation campaigns and suppression of the Iraqi Turkmens in Kirkuk and adjacent regions in Northern Iraq by the Kurdistan Regional Government; and the suppression of Uygur culture and Chinese colonization of Eastern Turkestan. The Grey Wolves are also known to be supporters of Azeri activists that campaign for greater cultural rights in Iran.
They have also been known to support non-Turkic people whom they consider to have kinship with Turkish people. It is for this reason that Grey Wolves have supported the Chechen Independence Struggle, the KLA-led Albanian movement in Kosovo, and the Bosniaks' resistance in the Bosnian War.
Role in 1980 military coup
At the time of the military coup of September 12, 1980, led by general Kenan Evren (who was also the leader of Counter-Guerrilla) there were some 1,700 Grey Wolves organizations, with about 200,000 registered members and a million sympathisers. Grey Wolves, also known as Commandos conducted assassinations against left-wing intellectuals and academics in Turkey. The torturing and killing of many left-wing partisans and sympathisers are among their crimes. Grey Wolves, besides assassinations and bombings, also participated in massacres of minority community members in Çorum and Maraş. However, after being useful for Kenan Evren's strategy of tension, the leader of the Counter-Guerrilla turned president outlawed the MHP and the Grey Wolves. Colonel Türkeş and other Grey Wolves were arrested. In its indictment of the MHP in May 1981, the Turkish military government charged 220 members of the MHP and its affiliates for 694 murders. However, imprisoned Grey Wolves members were offered amnesty if they accepted to fight the Kurdish separatism and the PKK, and ASALA ("Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia").
The Grey Wolves then lost many of its core cadres to the neo-liberal Motherland Party or various vestiges of the Islamist movement. In 1983, the Nationalist Task Party ("Milliyetçi Çalışma Partisi", MÇP) was founded as a successor to the MHP; as of 1992 it is again known as the MHP.
Role in Kurdish affairs
The MHP is strongly opposed to Kurdish separatists, namely the militant PKK, although they nevertheless do have some Kurdish supporters, who are called Bozkürtler or "Grey Kurds".
The paramilitary wing of the Grey Wolves have been utilized by the Turkish intelligence services to assassinate PKK leaders. The fact that Counter-Guerrilla had engaged in torture was confirmed by Talat Turhan, a former Turkish colonel.
Activities to date
On a global scale, the Grey Wolves are suspected to have been responsible for numerous political assassinations and disappearances of Turkish and Kurdish human rights activists, and are known to have ties with the Turkish mafia. The Grey Wolves have also raised funds for Chechen guerrilla separatists, whom they consider their brothers.
In 1996 the Grey Wolves were involved in an attack on a peaceful protest of Greek Cypriots against the occupation of Cyprus. One protester, Tasos Isaac, was beaten to death.
In December 1996, the Grey Wolves attacked left-wing students and teachers at Istanbul University, under police sanction.
In 2004, the Grey Wolves prevented the screening of Atom Egoyan's Ararat in Turkey, a film about the Armenian Genocide.
Since 2004 Grey Wolves and Islamist Nizam-ı Alem members waged a war against Christianity in Turkey. Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was also assassinated by a Grey Wolf sympathizer (Ogün Samast) at Istanbul in 2007. Another young Grey Wolf assassinated Father Andrea Santoro; a Catholic Priest; at Trabzon in 2006. A group of Grey Wolves conducted an inhuman torture and killing party; against Bible publishing firm members in Malatya, torturing and killing 3 innocent people.
Links to Operation Gladio
Numerous sources show that the MHP and the Grey Wolves had ties to the Turkish mafia, to the Turkish intelligence services as well as to the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Former military public attorney and member of the Turkish Supreme Court, Emin Değer, has established that the Grey Wolves collaborated with the counter-insurgency governmental forces, as well as the close ties between these state security forces and the CIA. Indeed, Martin A. Lee also wrote that the para-military wing of the Grey Wolves were covertly supported by the CIA, which worked with the Gladio network, while a December 5, 1990 article by the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung stated that the Counter-Guerrilla had their headquarters in the building of the US DIA military secret service. Le Monde diplomatique wrote that "the CIA used proponents of the Greater Turkey to stir up anti-sovietic passions at the heart of Turkish Muslim minorities in the Soviet Union". Thus, in 1992, colonel Türkes went to newly-independent Azerbaijan, where he was acclaimed as a hero. He supported Grey Wolves sympathiser Abülfaz Elçibay's candidacy to the presidency. Once elected, Elçibay chose as ministry of Interior İsgandar Hamidov, a member of the Grey Wolves who plead for the creation of a Greater Turkey which would include northern Iran and extend itself to Siberia, India and China. Hamidov resigned in April 1993 after having threatened Armenia with a nuclear strike.
According to Daniele Ganser, a researcher at the ETH Zürich University, the founder of the Grey Wolves, Alparslan Türkeş was a member of Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish branch of Gladio, a stay-behind NATO anti-communist paramilitary organization which was supposed to prepare networks for guerrilla warfare in case of a Soviet invasion. Le Monde diplomatique confirms that the Grey Wolves were infiltrated and manipulated by Gladio, and that important Grey Wolves member Abdullah Çatlı had worked with Gladio. According to the same article, Abdullah Çatlı met with Italian international terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie, who, aside from taking part in Italy' strategy of tension, also maintained links with Pinochet's DINA and participated in the Argentinian dirty war. However, it is alleged that in Italy and Turkey, Gladio supported a strategy of tension (Italian: strategia della tensione) which used false flag terrorist attacks in order to discredit the communist movement.
Grey Wolves outside of Turkey
Republic of Azerbaijan
The Grey Wolves have provided support to Azeri forces fighting Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Grey Wolves Party still functions in Azerbaijan, although its name has been changed to the Azerbaijan National Democrat Party.
Europe
The Grey Wolves in western Europe today were originally sent there at the end of the 1970s and the early 1980s to infiltrate Turkish immigrant workers. Their task was to combat Turkish left-wingers who had left Turkey because of harsh state repression but, later also focused on Kurds. As a result, the Grey Wolves stepped up their activities in the Netherlands by founding the TFN, Turkish Federation of Holland, in 1995. The latter now has around 56 local units and an estimated membership of 30,000.
Italy
According to investigative reporter Lucy Komisar, the 1981 attempt on Pope John Paul II's life by Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca may have been related to Gladio. Ali Ağca would in this case have been manipulated by NATO's clandestine structure, in an attempt to fuel again Italy's strategy of tension, which last big event was the 1980 Bologna massacre. Komissar underlines the fact that Ali Ağca had worked with Abdullah Çatlı in the January 1, 1979 murder of Abdi İpekçi, the editor of left-wing newspaper Milliyet. "Çatlı then reportedly helped organize Ağca's escape from an Istanbul military prison, and some have suggested Çatlı was even involved in the Pope's assassination attempt" reports Lucy Komisar, adding that at the scene of the Mercedes-Benz crash where Çatlı died, he was found with a passport under the name of "Mehmet Özbay" - an alias also used by Mehmet Ali Ağca.
Cyprus
The Grey Wolves went to Cyprus to support Turkish Cypriot protesters in 1996. The Grey Wolves were involved in attacks on Greek Cypriot properties and Greek Cypriot nationalists.
The Turkish Grey Wolves leader Devlet Bahçeli:
Bringing the fascist Grey Wolves greet
Grey Wolves mass meeting in Oberhausen (Germany)
(the Flags with three half moons are the fascist Grey Wolves flag)
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