{"id":23720,"date":"2010-10-17T18:47:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T16:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=23720"},"modified":"2014-01-05T21:08:57","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T19:08:57","slug":"turkish-immigrants-fear-spread-of-xenophobia-in-german-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/10\/17\/turkish-immigrants-fear-spread-of-xenophobia-in-german-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish immigrants fear spread of xenophobia in German society"},"content":{"rendered":"
FULYA \u00d6ZERKAN
\nANKARA – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News
\nThursday, October 14, 2010<\/em><\/h5>\n

A recent survey showing high levels of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany alarms the country\u2019s Turkish community, which fears such beliefs could flare into violence. The study released this week indicates that xenophobic feelings are spreading from extremists at the margins of society to the middle-class heart of the European country<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recent survey findings that say xenophobic and racist sentiments have penetrated to the middle-class heart of German society have left a bitter taste among members of the country\u2019s Turkish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is most dangerous is that racism in Germany is going from a Nazi appearance to a \u2018black-tie racism,\u2019\u201d Kenan Kolat, a leader of the Turkish community in Germany, told the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday. \u201cThe existing racism is heading toward the center of society, to cultural, white-collar racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conducted by the University of Leipzig for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, in connection with the Social Democratic Party, the survey released this week, \u201cRight-wing Extremism in Germany 2010,\u201d shows a high number of Germans agree with xenophobic statements. Foreigners as well as Muslims are being treated with suspicion, according to the study\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-Semitism is being replaced by Islamophobia,\u201d Bekir Albo\u011fa of the Turkish-Islamic Union, or D\u0130T\u0130B, in Germany told the Daily News. \u201cIt is alarming that anti-Islamic sentiments are on the rise despite the German government\u2019s efforts to tackle the integration problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The survey, which was broadcast by Deutsche Welle, shows 32 percent of Germans approve of the statement, \u201cWhen there\u2019s a shortage of jobs, foreigners should be sent back home\u201d; 34 percent agree or strongly agree with the statement that \u201cForeigners only come here to exploit Germany\u2019s social welfare system\u201d; and 35 percent think that \u201cGermany has a dangerous level of foreign influence as a result of the many foreigners in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presence of such sentiments among Germans is not a new development, Kolat said, but added that the broader willingness to express them is worrying.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeigners are met with suspicion here in Germany, but what\u2019s new is that the middle-class, white-collar-and-tie Germans, who have long refrained from expressing their opinions toward foreigners, are now speaking out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Germany has a sizeable Turkish community of around 2.5 million and a total Muslim population of some 4 million. German central bank board member Thilo Sarrazin recently caused outrage among Muslim immigrants when he accused Turks and Arabs of exploiting the welfare state, refusing to integrate and lowering the country\u2019s average intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cA policy of humiliation and exclusion is supported by part of German society,\u201d Kolat said.<\/p>\n

Anti-Islam feelings on the rise<\/strong><\/p>\n

The survey showed the strongest negative opinions when it comes to Islam, with 55 percent of respondents saying they could understand that people find Arabs unpleasant, and 58 percent saying the practicing of the Muslim religion should be \u201cconsiderably restricted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though members of the Turkish community have said they find the results \u201cintimidating\u201d and \u201cthought-provoking,\u201d others have suggested that the way the questions were asked might have been manipulative rather than neutral, dramatically impacting the eventual results. Still, the community is troubled by fears that the sentiments expressed by middle-class Germans could\u00a0erupt\u00a0into tension with immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have serious concerns. Could violence take place? I hope it will not, but it is a possibility we cannot rule out,\u201d Kolat said.<\/p>\n

Both Turkey and Germany emphasize the importance of integration for Turks living in the country. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly attended a football match last week between the Turkish and German national teams, with the Turkish leader wearing a scarf combining both nations\u2019 flag in a symbolic move to highlight the importance of integration.<\/p>\n

While calling on Turks to adhere to German rules and learn the German language, Ankara cautions against a policy of \u201cassimilation,\u201d saying it would mean destroying a culture. The problem of integration will\u00a0further be discussed when German President Christian Wulff visits Turkey later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FULYA \u00d6ZERKAN ANKARA – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News Thursday, October 14, 2010 A recent survey showing high levels of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany alarms the country\u2019s Turkish community, which fears such beliefs could flare into violence. The study released this week indicates that xenophobic feelings are spreading from extremists at the margins of society […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":23721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1045],"class_list":["post-23720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-germany","tag-islamophobia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}