Where is Europe Going?

Witten-24.01.2005

Press Release of ABTTF

Where is Europe Going?

After the racist citizenship test that is being applied to evaluate the loyalty of Muslims, intenting to become German citizenship, to Germany in German Southern state Baden-Württemberg, in Netherlands it is being discussed to ban foreigners speak languages other than Dutch in public places. These hot topics bring the question forward “Where is Europe going?”

As the debates on the racist citizenship test that is being applied to evaluate the loyalty of Muslims who want to become German citizenship in German Southern state Baden – Württemberg are still continu-ing, the offer of Netherlands Integration and Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, to ban foreigner citizens speak languages other than Dutch brings question marks about the integration and immigration policies.


Chairman of ABTTF; Halit Habipoğlu, critized the offer of the Minister and continued as “ The state-ments of a Minister from a West European country’s government are the same as the statements that exist in party programms of banned racist parties’. It is a historic mistake to try to eliminate the cultural differences and promote one culture in a world that aims multilingualism and multiculturalism.

The statements of the Minister give rise to the racism that eroded Europe during inter –War era and this is an unacceptable situation. The minister who damaged one of the taboos of the post - war pluralist Europe is to resign as soon as possible”.

The new debate in Netherlands, the country where Western Thrace Turkish minority has the second biggest population after Germany, reflects the anti-democratic applications in the political era of post 11 September and Habipoğlu warns aganist the anti democratic trend.

Habipoğlu continued as “It is a great danger even to talk about such an offer in the founder countries of European Union. Under the same logic, it constitutes a great danger to apply such a racist citizenship test in Baden – Wüttemberg and the other racist citizenship test for muslims intenting to become German citizens is nowadays being planned for German state Hessen. When the founder countries of the Euro-pean Union can not accept the multilingualism, multiculturalism and multireligionism, it becomes a great question how we can be hopeful about European Union where we accept as the unique place for our common future. If a common future is aimed then such racist and religious statements should come to an end”.

Netherlands is one of the countries that have a very dense foreign population. 350 thousand Turks live in the country and 200 thousand of them have Dutch citizenship.