Turkish Parliament's Human Rights Committee To Probe Islamophobia In Europe

Turkish Parliament's Human Rights Committee To Probe Islamophobia In Europe

26 April 2018

Daily Sabah

A group of Turkish lawmakers will travel to the heart of Europe to investigate rising Islamophobia on the continent.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Ömer Serdar, the head of parliament's Human Rights Committee, said that they will hold meetings with state authorities during their visits to Germany, France and Belgium.

Serdar, a senior lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said that they will discuss the issue of marginalization.

"We will investigate whether authorities take measures against the hostility of Islamophobic discrimination in Muslims' daily lives," said Serdar.

Serdar said after their investigation they will prepare a report.

"After that, we plan to hold a symposium both nationally and internationally," he added.

Germany has witnessed growing Islamophobia and hatred of migrants in recent years triggered by a propaganda from far-right and populist parties, which have exploited fears over the refugee crisis and terrorism.

Some 950 Muslims and Muslim institutions were attacked in 2017, according to the official figures.

At least 33 Muslims were injured in these attacks, which included assaults on Muslim women wearing headscarves and attacks on mosques and other Muslim institutions.

Germany, a country of 81.8 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France.

Among the country's nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin. Many of them are second or third-generation Turkish families who migrated to Germany in the 1960s and are well-integrated.

"We will try to define Islamophobic issues based on legislation" in the Western countries, said Adnan Boynukara, another top committee member.

He added that they would visit Berlin and Cologne on April 9.

"We will meet with ministry authorities and NGOs. At the end of April, we will hold official talks in France and Belgium."

Turkish-origin politician receives racist hate letter in Sweden

A Swedish politician of Turkish origin said he received a racist hate letter sent to his party's headquarters in Sweden's second-largest city of Gothenburg.

Mikail Yüksel, an active member of Sweden's Centre Party, which takes part in the country's coalition government, told Anadolu Agency that the letter read: "Go back to your country, you filthy Muslim."

Yüksel will be a parliamentary candidate in the Swedish general election scheduled for September 2018.

Claiming that his parliamentary election candidacy disturbed some racist lobby groups due to his Turkish and Muslim origin, Yüksel said: "They started a smear campaign against me although they are not taken seriously."

Yüksel said he had similar threats before and was not surprised, adding that he will not give up. "My only goal is to serve Sweden as a Swedish politician of Turkish origin," he said.

An estimated 100,000 Turks live in Sweden.

Racist, Xenophobic Incidents Sharply Rise By A Third In Switzerland

Switzerland's racism help centers have seen reports jump by a third to a record 301 abuse cases last year, Swiss newspapers reported Sunday.

Most of the victims were targeted because they were perceived as foreigners. Racism against blacks and Muslims were the other main motives, according to an unpublished report by Switzerland's Anti-Racism Commission, which funds 27 help centers across the country.

The centers recorded verbal abuse and discrimination, as well as two armed attacks, the SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported in Zurich.

In one case, a bus driver allegedly refused to drive underage asylum seekers to their bus stop and told them "to go back to Africa."

In June, anti-Semites struck an orthodox Jew to the ground in Zurich.

According to the authors of the report, the numbers might have increased because of increased awareness about racism, or because there were really more incidents. In any case, the experts assume that the real number of cases is far higher than the ones that were reported.

Anti-Racism Commission president Martine Brunschwig Graf said that racist views expressed by leaders such as US President Donald Trump have had an international ripple effect.

"Xenophobes feel support for their stance," she was quoted as saying by the SonntagsBlick newspaper.

Muslim girl attacked in Netherlands after refusing to take off her headscarf

A 14-year-old Muslim girl was attacked by two boys on her way home from school in the Netherlands, police said Monday.

According to law enforcement officials, the incident took place in Emmeloord in the Dutch province of Flevoland last Wednesday.

The girl was heading home on her bicycle when two boys — alleged to be around 18 years old — stopped her and started mocking the girl over her headscarf.

They then demanded she remove the headscarf, and upon her refusal, the attackers knocked the girl down from her bike and beat her up.

The 14-year-old was kicked in the head several times and suffered a mild concussion as well as several bruises, the police said.

The police added that they were looking for the perpetrators and asked any witnesses to contact them.

Add Comments