Old and New Europe, remain united on one issue
A Dutch European Commissioner Fritz Bolkestein has compared the immigration of Turks to the European community with a military invasion by the Ottoman Khilafah. The comments were made as his colleague, the enlargement Commisioner Gunter Verheugen was in Turkey preparing a report that is widely expected to recommend that Turkey be allowed to join the EU. The Austrian Commissioner, Franz Fischler, also sounded warnings about Turkish membership, hinting that the European public should be given the opportunity to ratify it via referenda.
Bolkestein compared the enlargement of the EU to the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which collapsed in the face of the Islamic state on its borders. He stated: “The current trend warrants only one conclusion: the United States remains the sole superpower, China will become an economic giant, and Europe is becoming more Islamic”.
He claimed: “immigration pressure” from the South would mount dramatically and quoted Bernard Lewis, who has said that by the end of this century Europe would be predominantly Islamic. “If he (Lewis) turns out to be right, the liberation of Vienna in 1683 will have been in vain” railed Bolkestein, referring to the defeat of the Ottoman siege of Vienna by the Poles, Germans and Austrians.
It is not surprising that several European commissioners, in spite of fairly widespread support of Turkey’s membership bid, will bring strong anti-Islamic sentiments to air, given the widespread anti-Muslim feelings in much of Europe. It is absurd to imagine that via immigration or population growth that the Muslim population in Europe is going to in any way outnumber the non-Muslim population in the coming decades. Demographic surveys highlight that if you take the most optimistic (or pessimistic depending on your viewpoint) view of population growth, ie that all immigration is from Muslims countries and that the Muslim birth rate is two or three times the rest of the population, even under these circumstances the Muslim population will make little impact on the overall population mix. Muslims via a modest dress code and with a very visible growth in the number of Mosques, coupled with the saturation level of anti-Islamic rhetoric that dominates the media, are now increasingly seen as different, strange and threatening.
The major European powers of Germany, France and Britain officially support the membership bid of Turkey, although membership, if granted, will not happen until 2015 at the earliest. This may seem strange in light of the above comments but in truth it is of greater significance to maintain and strengthen the separation of Muslims, from the main body of the Ummah, and to bring Turkey fully into the Western camp would be a major coup. Turkey already is a member of NATO, and its rulers are quite happy to compromise its Islamic principles to move ever closer to the EU’s staunchly secular membership criteria. Europe would gain from further liberalisation of Turkey’s massive economy and largely untapped wealth. With a large a growing population also attractive, provided it’s Islamic thoughts can be curbed or controlled.
The “noise” that speakers like Bolkestein make against Turkish membership are there to pressurise the Muslims and put them on the defensive in relation to their Islamic identity. This is rather reminiscent of the way that the Muslims were previously put on the defensive over Jihad, the same Jihad that took the Ottomans to the gates of Vienna. Muslims everywhere, not only from Turkey, should resist the integration of our lands into economic and political unions with the Capitalist nations. Individually Muslims will also be accepted in the West, but only on Western terms. The double shams of pluralism, and freedom of speech have no relevance when it comes to Islam. The best policy, in the minds of the West, for defeating the Islamic personality is to integrate the Muslims into their way of life fully.
íóÇ Ïõæäö ÇáúãõÄúãöäöíäó ÃóÊõÑöíÏõæäó Ãóä ÃóíøõåóÇ ÇáøóÐöíäó ÂãóäõæÇ áóÇ ÊóÊøóÎöÐõæÇ ÇáúßóÇÝöÑöíäó ÃóæúáöíóÇÁó ãöäú ú ãõÈöíäðÇÊóÌúÚóáõæÇ áöáøóåö Úóáóíúßõãú ÓõáúØóÇäðÇ
“O you who believe! Take not for Awliya (friends and protectors) disbelievers instead of the believers. Do you want to offer Allah a manifest proof against yourselves?” [TMQ An-Nisa:144]