DAR AL HARB - GERMANY: 2ND CONFERENCE BETWEEN GERMAN AUTHORITIES AND MOSLEM INVADERS

Schaeuble satisfied with second Islamic Conference

Berlin. Federal Internal Affairs Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has expressed his satisfaction with the course of the second session of the Islamic Conference. At the end of the discussions, the CDU politician said that all were agreed that the process was making good progress. He added that no one was disputing the separation of matters of state from matters of religion. Today, the talks focused on questions of law, as well as the structure of Islamic religious instruction at state schools. The Conference brings together representatives of the state and of the Muslim community to discuss how people of the Islamic faith can be better integrated into German society.


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Second Islam confab ends in Berlin without conrete results
By Saeid Najar Nobari

The second round of talks between the German government and Muslim representatives on promoting the integration process of Germany's 3.5 million Muslims ended without any specific results in Berlin on Wednesday.

"We all agreed that this process is right and it is moving ahead well. We are all determined to continue," said German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble at a news conference, joined by Muslim representatives.

He pointed out that the German Islam Conference is part of a "three-year dialogue process", warning against expecting any quick results.

Schaeuble met earlier in the day with 15 Muslim representatives who were carefully chosen by the German government last year.

The minister's remarks were criticized by the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims Ayel Ayyub Koehler who said the Islam conference lacked clear goals.

"This cannot go on like this, we cannot debate aimlessly. We have eye concrete goals," Koehler added.

He called for initiating a "road map" which would speed up the Muslim integration process talks.
The first one-day round of talks took place in September 2006 with working parties taking over the debate since then and reporting back Wednesday.

Attended by leaders of 16 Muslim organizations as well as several Muslim scientists and artists, last year's summit focused on promoting inter-faith dialogue and assessing integrations problems of Muslim migrants in Germany, specifically Turkish and Arab immigrants.

The government-sponsored Islam Conference has faced harsh criticism by German Muslims who point out that the representatives at the confab do not represent the interests of most of Germany's Muslims as there are also several Islam critics taking part in the conference meetings.

The Islam confab comes in the wake of repeated anti-Islam hysteria in the German media, triggered mainly by the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.


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German govt-Muslim summit fails to make progress

berlin • The German government and representatives of the country’s 3.2 million Muslims failed to make any concrete progress at a high-profile summit yesterday aimed at boosting integration.

Eight months after the government set up the Islam Conference, delegates met for a second time to discuss sensitive issues including religion lessons, girls’ participation in sports and the legal status of a new Islamic body.

But after what Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said was an “intense” discussion, delegates from federal and local government, Islamic groups and lay Muslims had little to show.

“We agreed that the dialogue must continue,” Ezhar Cezairli, a lay Muslim dentist from Frankfurt, told a news conference. “It is a forum for discussion, we all want to continue and want results,” she said.

The government, worried about the potential radicalisation of disillusioned young Muslims, set up the conference to try to help western Europe’s second biggest Muslim population after France integrate into mainstream German society.

The conference is to last three years and the government says it expects conclusions only later on in the process.

But some delegates were critical. Ayyub Koehler, head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, wants concrete goals.

“This cannot be aimless, it can’t be just a debate. We need a roadmap to work on,” he said.
After a first meeting last September, working groups were set up to report back on several issues, but Wednesday’s debate was dominated by a row over the status of a new umbrella group.

Four leading groups set up a Coordination Council of Muslims in Germany (KRM) last month in the hope it would be given legal status equal to churches. The move was partly in response to government complaints that it did not know who to engage with. But the government says it will not put the KRM on the same legal footing as churches or the Central Council of Jews as it represents only a fraction of Muslims.

“Of course those who represent 10 percent, perhaps 15 percent of Germany’s Muslims cannot say, ‘Whoever is not represented by me cannot speak for Islam’,” said Schaeuble.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Schaeuble satisfied with second Islamic Conference

2) Second Islam confab ends in Berlin without conrete results

3) German govt-Muslim summit fails to make progress