Germany

"We Need New Answers"

The London bombings have rekindled a debate on radical Islam and Muslim immigrants in Europe. German-Turkish politician Cem Özdemir told DW-WORLD that tightening security alone wouldn't work in the fight against terror.

Muslim immigrants in Germany are once again the focus of debate

Germany is home to some 3.5 million Muslims, the majority from Turkey. German Interior Minister Otto Schily has warned that "immigrant generations in Europe are building terror cells that at are least ideologically close to al Qaeda." Schily has said that the authorities are currently watching 500 Islamists and studies show that extremist ideas do find favor among some young Muslims.

Cem Özdemir

DW-WORLD spoke to Cem Özdemir (photo), a German-Turkish member of the Green party and the European parliament who focuses on German and EU migration and integration policies as well as EU-Turkey relations, about the threat of Islamic fundamentalism within Germany, relations between Germans and Muslims and what can be done to clear the atmosphere of suspicion.

DW-WORLD: Since the July bombings in London, a discussion has arisen in Germany about the potential of Islamic radicalization among second and third generation Muslim immigrants. Reports and studies show that some young Muslims are susceptible to extremist ideas. How do you explain that?

Cem Özdemir: The reasons are multi-layered. It's partly an integration problem, particularly among young males in big cities, where we have huge problems with education and employment. And then we frequently see young people who feel cut off from society -- that's what the London example also showed. These youngsters are born and grown up here in Germany and should actually belong to our society, but who -- either subjectively or objectively -- have the feeling they don't really belong.

In addition, we're now dealing with a totally new phenomenon -- that of extremists apparently attempting to infect these youngsters with their fundamentalist poison. In London, we saw that happening in Pakistani schools and madrassas (Islamic schools). It's definitely important to find out if anything comparable is happening here in our country.

The debate in Germany has largely been dominated by suggestions to step up security. The interior minister is favors increasing surveillance of mosques and making it easier to deport hate preachers and imams. What do you think of such measures?

I don't believe it will help us any further if we build up defenses along religious lines. Rather, we only have a chance if we take action on the basis of common values, and if moderate Muslims work with each other as well as side by side with Germans in the fight against terror.