Berlin – Islam Doesn’t Belong To Germany, New Interior Minister Says

    6

    FILE - People praying at the Haci Bayram mosque in Berlin Wedding run by Islamische Föderation Berlin  (Islamic Federation of Berlin), Germany, October 3, 2017.  REUTERS/Christian Mang Berlin – New Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Islam did not belong to Germany, in an interview published on Friday, setting him on a collision course with Chancellor Angela Merkel who has stressed the need to integrate Muslims.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Seehofer also set out a range of hardline policies on immigration, as the new coalition prepares to see off the rising challenge of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which entered the national parliament in last year’s elections.

    “Islam does not belong to Germany,” Seehofer told mass-selling Bild newspaper, contradicting former German president Christian Wulff who fueled a debate over immigration in 2010 by saying Islam was part of Germany.

    In 2015 Merkel echoed Wulff’s words at a time when anti-immigration campaign group PEGIDA – or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West – was holding marches.

    The German government estimates between 4.4 and 4.7 million Muslims are living in Germany. Many of them have a Turkish background and many of the more than a million migrants who have arrived in the country from the Middle East and elsewhere after Merkel adopted an open-door policy in mid-2015 are also Muslims.

    Seehofer – a member of Merkel’s CSU Bavarian allies who are further to the right than her own Christian Democrats (CDU) – said he would implement a “master plan for quicker deportations”.

    He also promised to do more to tackle the reasons people flee and classify more states as ‘safe’ countries of origin, which would make it easier to deport failed asylum seekers.

    “Of course the Muslims living here do belong to Germany,” Seehofer said before going on to say Germany should not give up its own traditions or customs, which had Christianity at their heart.

    “My message is: Muslims need to live with us, not next to us or against us,” said Seehofer, who was sworn in as interior minister on Wednesday.

    Seehofer is keen to show his party is tackling immigration ahead of Bavaria’s October regional election, when the AfD is expected to enter that state assembly.

    In a coalition agreement, Merkel’s CDU/CSU conservative bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) agreed they would manage and limit migration to Germany and Europe to avoid a re-run of the 2015 refugee crisis.

    They also said they did not expect migration (excluding labor migration) to rise above the range of 180,000 to 220,000 per year.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    6 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    triumphinwhitehouse
    triumphinwhitehouse
    6 years ago

    he is right, Islam doesn’t belong anywhere outside Arabia they already pillaged and raped their way to Indonesia, Africa and now are working on the US/Canada and Europe even Russia they are getting despite Putin.

    Reb Yid
    Reb Yid
    6 years ago

    200K refugees A YEAR? Are they crazy?

    6 years ago

    He is right. And before the naysayers jump in and compare this to Nazis Germany let be debunk that from the start. Jews never ran around killing westerners all over. Muslims are out to kill us. So huge difference. One is rational hate and one is irrational hate. Its simple