German Mayor Threatens Integration Officer Of Turkish Origin

German Mayor Threatens Integration Officer Of Turkish Origin

27 August 2017

The mayor of a Lower Saxony community called the city's integration officer, who happened to be of Turkish origin, to "immediately and publicly" distance herself from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Helmut Affelt, honorary mayor of Stadtoldendorf, also threatened to fire Integration Officer Esin Özalp if she did not obey his demand, German media reported Thursday.

Mayor Wolfgang Anders of the nearby Escherhausen municipality confirmed the incident, which caused "lack of apprehension" in the provincial government.

The Integration Officer of Lower Saxony Doris Schröder-Köpf also expressed outrage, saying that Affelt's attitude was "unacceptable."

Schröder-Köpf told public radio and TV broadcaster NDR that more and more people of Turkish origin were called in an "aggressive tone" to distance themselves from Erdoğan, leading to the "insult of these second or third generation migrants," who should not be "reduced" to an origin other than Germany.

Controversial mayor Affelt also told NDR that he was "personally offended" by Erdoğan's remarks regarding Germany.

Wolfgang Anders, on the other hand, said that despite Affelt's only-representative function, his demand could be discussed in next city council meeting.

Affelt is a member of Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, while immigration officer Özalp is from the Social Democarats (SDP).

Mosque In The Netherlands Targeted By Far-right Attack: Swedish Man Fined 1,400 Euros For Harassing, Insulting 3 Muslim Women On Train

An under-construction mosque in southeastern Netherlands was targeted by a group of far-right extremists, head of the mosque said Saturday.

The far-right 'Identitair Verzet' movement hanged anti-Islam banners at the roof of Tevhid mosque which is under construction in Venlo city.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ahmet Dursun, head of Tevhid Mosque, condemned the incident and said there were many far-right extremists in their neighborhood, but they were not expecting such an attack.

"We've held talks with the mayor and some other officials. They are supporting us," he said, adding: "We will take necessary measures not to experience such incidents again."

The group, which claimed the responsibility for the incident, draped banners reading "Stay away. The Netherlands belongs to us. We don't want a mosque and Muslims in our neighborhood" both in Turkish and Dutch. They also shared the photos of banners on social media, and claimed they "occupied" the mosque.

In the past two months, PEGIDA, another far-right anti-Muslim movement, carried out a stunt at under-construction Selimiye Mosque in Veghel and an Islamic primary school in Leiden.

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