Saturday, September 18, 2010

'Get used to more mosques'


After Bundesbank's Sarrazin claimed Turkish, Arab immigrants failing to integrate, German chancellor says, 'Our country is going to carry on changing, and integration is also task for society taking up immigrants'

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germans had for too long failed to grasp how immigration was changing their country and would have to get used to the sight of more mosques in their cities, according to a newspaper.

Reuters
Germany, home to at least 4 million Muslims, has been divided in recent weeks by a debate over integration sparked by disparaging remarks about Muslim immigrants by an outspoken member of the country's central bank.
Controversial Remarks
Banker's resignation greeted with relief in Berlin / Reuters
Hilo Sarrazin says will quit Bundesbank's board from end of September after his comments on Muslim immigrants and Jewish genes drew censure from Chancellor Merkel, prompted central bank to seek his dismissal
Full Story



"Our country is going to carry on changing, and integration is also a task for the society taking up the immigrants," Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.



"For years we've been deceiving ourselves about this. Mosques, for example, are going to be a more prominent part of our cities than they were before," she added.



The uproar sparked by the Bundesbank's Thilo Sarrazin, who argued Turkish and Arab immigrants were failing to integrate and swamping Germany with a higher birth rate, is one of several recent prominent disputes touching on religion and integration.



Switzerland sparked international condemnation last year when it voted to impose a ban on building minarets.



Religious disputes have erupted in the United States during the past few weeks over plans to build an Islamic cultural centre close to the site of toppled World Trade Center.



Meanwhile ties between Berlin and Paris were strained this week by a terse exchange between Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy over France's expulsion of Roma migrants.

No comments: