!ßÈÀ face="Verdana" size="2">The impressions I gained during the Munich meeting on the Armenian genocide allegations weren't much different to the ones from Zurich. German public opinion also seems convinced that we subjected the Armenians to genocide. The propaganda efforts exerted for all these years by the Hamburg-based German Oriental Institute and the people trained there have indeed proven effective.

Gündüz Aktan
  The impressions I gained during the Munich meeting on the Armenian genocide allegations weren't much different to the ones from Zurich. German public opinion also seems convinced that we subjected the Armenians to genocide. The propaganda efforts exerted for all these years by the Hamburg-based German Oriental Institute and the people trained there have indeed proven effective.

  This anti-Turkey atmosphere has been created over the course of a lengthy process. A large part of the people fleeing from the Sept. 12, 1980 military intervention in Turkey took refuge in Germany. Then another wave of refugees joined them: Those who sought asylum in Germany over economic considerations but cited their excuse as being “the widespread human rights violations in Turkey.” Finally, Kurds too have sought asylum in Germany in the course of the fight against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorism.

  German church organizations, human rights associations and the press easily believed everything the refugees had to say. They were too eager to believe that persecution was taking place in Turkey; and the way in which the terrorism and anarchy that flared up in Turkey during the 1975-1980 period was suppressed by resorting to violence, did create a suitable climate for such complaints.

  However, there are also some other reasons for the anti-Turkey sentiment present in Germany: Shortly after the reunification of Germany, that is, in the early 1990s, the Neo-Nazis started attacking Turks in Germany. The violent actions of this small group of extremists gave a vent to the racist wave that was rising among the German people.

  Those segments of the German society that have learned a lesson from the past vigorously objected to the incidents. Meanwhile, due to the new law under which German citizenship is no longer fully dependent on “bloodline,” an increasing number of Turks in Germany obtained German nationality. And the SPD-Greens government took a favorable stance regarding Turkish membership in the European Union. Thanks to all these developments it was possible to stem and even reduce the anti-Turkish movement.

  However, there now seems to be a rekindling of the anti-Turkish sentiment in the post-Sept. 11, 2001 period. This is due partly to the fact that some of the Muslims that are resorting to violence in the name of Islam have established themselves in Germany. In this climate three problems, the presence of which had already been sensed in the past, are worsening and coming to the foreground.

  The first problem concerns Turks' education. It's no secret that the Muslim minorities in Western Europe have not become integrated with the society in their host countries. There have been no incidents in Germany of the kind that have taken place in France recently. This is due to certain factors. On the other hand, almost half of Turkish children are being admitted into schools for mentally retarded children. And only half of them manage to finish these schools. This situation can't possibly be due merely to Turkish children not speaking German fluently. If things continue in this way, what will emerge in Germany is a group of alienated Turks that will be of no use -- as is the case in France.

  The second question involves German efforts to create a “European Islam” that would be more suitable to Germany. Those who have criticized Turkey for having the kind of secularism that is supervised by the state are now preparing to intervene in a religion of which they are not members, an intervention doomed to fail. There have been those who have been “separating” the Kurds and the Alawis, creating difficulties for the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate's middle-of-the-road Islamic line, tolerating the fanatic groups despite being afraid of the National View movement, and encouraging the fragmented state of the Turks in Germany on religious issues. They now seem unaware that their interventions would only trigger grave complications.

  The third problem is the German public's opinion, or almost religious conviction that the Armenians were subjected to genocide. There are also those that harp on the “Assyrian genocide” thesis. The Turkish community in Germany has been deeply shaken by the way the German Parliament passed the “Armenian massacre” resolution last year.

  The growing racism in Germany, which is obviously triggering opposition to Turkey's EU membership, interacts with the other problems (issues related to education, religion and genocide allegations), causing them to worsen. Turkish children are considered to be inferior, untalented, uncivilized etc. and are being driven towards failure in the field of education. The effort to create a European Islam, meanwhile, is aimed at reforming a “fanatical religion incompatible with democracy.” And, finally, Turkey is being forced to “recognize” the “genocide” perpetrated by the “Nazi-like Unity and Progress Party” of the Ottoman times and thus put an end to the unique nature of the Holocaust. These are typical racist attitudes.

  Yet, to bring about a solution it's possible to achieve affirmative action in education, accept the Religious Affairs Directorate's way of preaching Islam and engage with the Turks in a joint study of history and the archives regarding the Armenian problem.

  Or is it impossible?