Xenophobia across Europe threatens Turks, Turkey’s EU accession process
The rise of the right strengthens racist parties in Europe because rightist parties keep toughening their remarks in order to win votes normally cast for racist parties. France’s Sarkozy came to power with a strong rightist tone in his speeches similar to that of the racist Jean-Marie Le Pen.
The right has been on the rise in Europe. The rise of the right strengthens racist parties because rightist parties toughen their remarks, thereby becoming closer to racist parties, in order to win votes normally cast for the latter. The most prominent victims of this tough rhetoric are minorities, including Turks and naturalized European citizens, as well as Turkey's likely EU membership.
In recently held British local elections, the Conservative Party's victory and the Labour Party's greatest landslide defeat in the last 40 years have catered to commentaries suggesting that the right will soon be "covering" Europe. The arrival of Christian Democrat Angela Merkel in power in Germany, the maintenance in France of the power in the hands of the right through Nicolas Sarkozy, the restoration of the Christian Democrats to power in Belgium and Italy's latest face of its Fascist Party having become a very strong partner in the government raise the question of "What on earth is happening in Europe?" Exceptions aside, the European right either opposes Turkey's membership or views it unfavorably. Because supporting Turkey's membership is a state policy in countries such as England, Spain, Italy and Sweden, the arrival of rightist parties in power changes nothing. Having placed the rise of the right in Europe under the magnifying glass, Today's Zaman has scrutinized the issue with its different dimensions in mind. The situation in Europe where the right has been getting stronger is as follows:
The French right, which took control of the Elysée Palace in 1995 after the two-term (14 year) presidency of the socialist François Mitterand, consolidated its power with Sarkozy, who was elected last year. If Jacques Chirac's rapidly deteriorated right managed to emerge from the ballot box in 2007 as the winner in both the general and presidential elections, the credit goes to Sarkozy's promises for realizing radical reforms and the left's disorderliness.
Having adopted a harsh stance against immigrants with the slogan “zero tolerance” during his term as interior minister, Sarkozy hardened his stance during his election campaign. He adopted a populist rhetoric toward the Muslim minority and was criticized for his fear-mongering, which was meant to bring him more votes from the far right. His efforts to appeal to this far-right segment paid off during the elections. Jean-Marie Le Pen’s votes dropped from 20 percent in 2002, which had allowed him to move on to the second round of the elections, to 10 percent. As soon as he took office, Sarkozy, as he had promised, immediately created the first Immigration and National Identity Ministry in the history of Europe.
All through his election campaign he defended the idea that Turkey did not belong in Europe and thus opposed its EU accession process, promising to stop the accession process if he was elected. However, at the first European summit he attended as the French president, he clearly saw that he could not stop the accession talks on his own. This time, he chose to impede the process through various methods.
The French leader’s attitude toward legislation about an alleged Armenian genocide -- passed in the French National Assembly in 2006 and which makes it a crime to deny that the alleged mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I were genocide -- remains unknown, with the legislation still awaiting deliberation in the Senate. The inactivity of the Elysée Palace and the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the main French center-right political party in power, in regard to this issue so far, is a curious development, whereas the Armenian diaspora in the country demands that this legislation, which penalizes the denial of the alleged genocide, be passed in the Senate before the European parliament elections set for 2009.
German voters not tilting toward far right; center sliding there
The rise of the right observed in many European countries manifests itself in Germany in the form of the center sliding toward the far right. At first glance, the far right in Germany appears weak. Since the late 1960s, German far-right parties have never managed to surpass the 5 percent election threshold and thus could not make it to the Federal Assembly. The number of far rightists in Germany was quoted as 38,600 in 2006. Of all these people, 10,400 were described as “prone to resorting to violence” while 21,500 of them were members of far-rightist parties. Having a closer look at people’s views reveals that between 15 to 20 percent of the German population is closer to the worldview of far rightists.
This apparently small number of members of far-rightist parties is maintained through the policy of claiming the sensitivities of the far-rightist segments. This claim prevents voters from gravitating toward these parties. In particular, the intellectual stream, called the New Right (Neue Rechte), fulfills the function of a bridge between the right and the far right and endeavors to make rightist views dominant among the public. This trend in turn impacts Turks and Turkey’s EU accession process. However, the xenophobia and Islamophobia in Germany that adversely affect the Turks in the country are more prevalent than simply being exclusively rightist or far-rightist feelings. Far rightist views are shared by more than 15 percent of the population; xenophobia is widespread in about 30 percent; and signs of Islamophobia, or enmity towards Islam, are found in two-thirds of the population.
The rise of the right observed in many European countries manifests itself in Germany in the form of the center sliding toward the far right. At first glance, the far right in Germany appears weak. Since the late 1960s, German far-right parties have never managed to surpass the 5 percent election threshold and thus could not make it to the Federal Assembly. The number of far rightists in Germany was quoted as 38,600 in 2006. Of all these people, 10,400 were described as “prone to resorting to violence” while 21,500 of them were members of far-rightist parties. Having a closer look at people’s views reveals that between 15 to 20 percent of the German population is closer to the worldview of far rightists.
This apparently small number of members of far-rightist parties is maintained through the policy of claiming the sensitivities of the far-rightist segments. This claim prevents voters from gravitating toward these parties. In particular, the intellectual stream, called the New Right (Neue Rechte), fulfills the function of a bridge between the right and the far right and endeavors to make rightist views dominant among the public. This trend in turn impacts Turks and Turkey’s EU accession process. However, the xenophobia and Islamophobia in Germany that adversely affect the Turks in the country are more prevalent than simply being exclusively rightist or far-rightist feelings. Far rightist views are shared by more than 15 percent of the population; xenophobia is widespread in about 30 percent; and signs of Islamophobia, or enmity towards Islam, are found in two-thirds of the population.
British right against racist party
In local elections held on May 1, the Conservative Party won 100 of the 159 local governments, with the Labour Party sustaining the heaviest defeat of the last 40 years. It would be more accurate to contend that the Conservative Party’s victory stemmed more from the scandals in which the Labour Party got involved in recent years than a swelling of nationalist feelings. Despite the existence of a far-right party in Britain, only the Liberal Party, in addition to the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, is on the political scene. The Conservative Party frequently emphasizes that people should never vote for the British National Party.
The problems Turks face are mostly those encountered by all Muslims. A survey conducted by the Global Market Institute last year shows that 92 percent of Muslims living in Britain are of the opinion that the source of anti-Islamism is the media. The survey also shows that 50 percent of Britons share this view of Muslims, whereas minorities in Britain think that the Western media stereotypes the Muslim image and that the interpretation of Islam that favors the frequent use of violence, supported by a very small minority, is given very wide coverage in the media and in an extremely exaggerated fashion.
Source of inspiration for European far right: Danish People’s Party
The right wing in Denmark can be categorized under two fronts: While liberal and conservative parties can be described as traditional right, the far right is represented by the Danish People’s Party. The architect of the far right in Denmark is Mogens Glistrup, who founded his Progress Party in 1970. The real rise came about in 1995 when Pia Kjaersgaard parted ways with his “mentor” Glistrup and founded the Danish People’s Party. After building his chief policy on xenophobic roots, Kjaersgaard won 12 percent of the votes in the November 2001 elections and managed to bring 22 deputies into parliament, thereby becoming the key party in terms of “parliament arithmetic.” Kjaersgaard’s Dansk Folkeparti (DF) supported the liberal-conservative coalition government from outside parliament and left its mark on this term. Turning its rhetoric of “Denmark belongs to Danes” into a commonly held view, he managed to make this slogan the only topic of the election agenda. The word “foreigner/immigrant” meant “Muslim” for Kjaersgaard. Asserting “Where Islam exists, tolerance cannot exist,” he also became the secret architect of the harshest immigration law ever, which entered into force on July 1, 2002, in Europe. The DF never allowed for Muslims to cease to be in the spotlight and progressively increased its votes with this policy. Having raised the number of its deputies to 24 in the February 2005 elections, it won 25 seats in parliament in the November 2007 elections, becoming Denmark’s third-largest party.
The Danish People’s Party attacks Islam and Muslims at every opportunity and objects to Turkey’s EU membership. Placing an incessant emphasis on Turkey’s place being in the Middle East, the party spreads fears that Turkey’s membership will mean the invasion of Europe by 70 million Muslims. It also defends cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed and Muslims published by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005 on every ground, while demanding that the headscarf be banned in public places.
According to many experts, the rise of the right in Europe was sparked by the DF’s rise to a key position in Denmark. The most important reason for this rise is that the Social Democrat Party remained indifferent toward problems faced by minorities during its term in power between 1994 and 2001, thereby turning 8 percent of the population into a problematic mass. Although social democrats garnered 90 percent of the ethnic vote in the previous elections, they left minorities high and dry with the rise of the far right and because they changed their message accordingly. They were punished for this by getting the lowest rate of votes of the last 100 years in the November 2007 elections.
Racists become strong partner of government for first time
General elections held in Italy on April 13-14 gave the rightist alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi a landslide victory. Berlusconi, who founded the People’s Party for Freedom (Popolo della Liberta [PDL]) with the support of the National Alliance Party (Alleanza Nazionale [AN]), the latest version of the mutated Fascist Party, and also supported by the Northern League (Lega Nord) from outside parliament, was charged by the Italian people with running the country for five years. The restoration of the rightist alliance to power in Italy will not directly affect the lives of the 20,000 Turks living in the country; however, the fact that Lega Nord holds anti-Islamist and xenophobic ideas and the likelihood that it may put these ideas into practice in the new Berlusconi government, the Turks, who account for a very small percentage among immigrants who live in the country, might also be negatively affected.
Berlusconi’s arrival in power again is not expected to precipitate any negative developments in Turkish-Italian or Turkish-EU relations because Italy supports Turkey’s quest for EU membership as state policy. Just the contrary, it is highly likely that relations between the two countries will further flourish since Berlusconi is a pragmatist merchant-politician and has ties of personal friendship to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Nonetheless, it should not be forgotten that the smaller partner of the rightist alliance, the Northern League, is anti-Turkish.
Swedish far right against both EU, Turkey’s membership
The same voting traits can also be observed in Sweden, with the votes of leftist and social democrat parties progressively falling and those of rightist parties increasing. In the general elections of September 2006, the eight-year social democrat administration ended and a rightist coalition made up of four rightist parties formed the government.
Currently, despite the existence of the Folk Parti, a party known to have a negative stance toward minorities, the government cannot implement blatantly populist policies owing to dominant egalitarian policies. What plays a great role in this is the Swedes’ ingrained idea of being against any sort of discrimination. The most unusual attitudes are probably those adopted by Nyamko Sabuni, the minister of integration and an immigrant himself, whose statements against immigrants and in particular Muslims draw very strong ire.
Like the previous social democrat government, the rightist coalition in power fully supports Turkey’s EU membership. All of the seven parties in the Swedish parliament believe that Turkey’s membership would contribute a positive value to the union and that EU membership is definitely necessary for Turkey to realize its reforms to the fullest extent.
While xenophobia is not allowed to grow, Sweden’s racist party, the Democrats of Sweden, is preparing to carry out an anti-Turkish campaign in order to surpass the 4 percent election threshold to enter parliament. Party officials think that opposing Turkey’s EU membership would earn them new votes.
Party president Jimmi Akesson is known to be a defender of the idea that Sweden should leave the EU. Although his party is against the EU, they will spread propaganda against Turkey’s likely accession to the EU. In the 2006 elections, the Democrats of Sweden got only 2.9 percent of the vote and won a total of 282 seats in 144 local government councils.
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The turks have some balls to talk about xenophobia...and using Greek words to express themselves...
A nation that prouds and models itself around fascism is talking about xenophobia...go figure...what a
Here is what I think of the fowl fascist state and their bullshit
Good fucking riddance I say...the new dawn of a new era is coming...
You fail to see the irony of your post, you xenophobe !
