Cem Özdemir: Green politician calls on Islamist organizations to open

WORLD: Mr. Özdemir, the secularization of Christianity began during the French Revolution with the expropriation of Church property. What is the beginning of the secularization of Islam?

Cem Ozdemir: The fusion of spiritual and temporal power was probably not closer in the Islamic world than in Europe, when the Enlightenment began there. And modernization has also occurred in the Islamic world, but with the emergence of a political Islamism in the early 20th century, unfortunately, another story was written, of which we still feel the consequences today. ; hui. We are concerned by our initiative "for an enlightened Islam" but especially by the Muslims who live here with us.

WORLD: Last week, you published a call with a group of journalists and scientists to resume "the stalled discussion on Islam in Germany".

Özdemir: The Muslims who live here are now part of our country. Our basic law not only guarantees the individual rights of Muslims, it also derives collective rights, for example for religious communities, from our constitution. But I say it very clearly: The umbrella Islamic organizations that we have today do not fulfill the conditions to be recognized as a religious community for the moment. They also represent only a small portion of Muslims in Germany. Volker Beck and I presented an article three years ago in which we criticized that.

Exclusively for subscribers

WORLD: His November 2015 article was seen as a break with the recent Green Party policy on Islam and the uncritical support of fundamentalist Islamist badociations.

Özdemir: All parties in the Federation and the Länder have completely overestimated the desire to reform Islamic badociations, especially Ditib. But those who want to be recognized as a religious community must accept that the basic law is the guide to living together. I would also like Muslim students in German schools to learn about their religion in a free speech and to critically question it. It is the best shield against Salafist Islam. We can not allow organizations to enter our schools, such as religious education, who consider themselves essentially as the political representation of foreign states or even fail to share our democratic values . Erdogan, the mullahs or Salafists have no place in our clbadrooms.

WORLD: In 1991, Bbadam Tibi coined the term "Euro-Islam". All these attempts have failed. Why should it work this time?

Özdemir: Skepticism is understandable. Of course, the fourth Islamic Conference of the Federal Government, which is about to begin, naturally raises the question: how many more should remain before the debates sometimes lead to a socially recognizable result? For our new beginning, it is important to point out that large apex organizations are not the only face of Islam in Germany, but that it is much more varied. There are practicing and non-practicing Muslims, there are groups that tend to define themselves outside of Islam, like the Alevis. Or, like me, take people who remember their religion during the holidays, much like Christian baptismal or Jewish holy days.

WORLD: But is not development as a whole globally in the hands of fundamentalists, because the group of Muslims is growing rapidly and an arrangement with the German state seems less and less necessary?

Özdemir: Between the two, we have experienced phases of Islam in Europe based on pluralism and tolerance. When the genocide of the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina took place in the early 1990s, the victims turned to Brussels, Paris and Berlin, that is to say because they felt close to us . But the help did not come. One wonders what would have happened if Bosnian Muslims had committed genocide in their Croatian or Serbo-Orthodox Catholic neighbors. The Muslims of Sarajevo, Mostar and Tuzla prayed on Friday and then drank a slivovitz with their Serbian, Croatian and Jewish neighbors.

Or take support from jihadist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the Cold War. These examples not only show that the West already has a shaken sense of co-responsibility for the emergence of fundamentalism and Wahhabism.

Exclusively for subscribers

WORLD: The fact that Turkey led by Erdogan bade farewell to Kemalism and turned to Islamism can not be blamed on the West.

Özdemir: In fact, it was wrong to hope that the authoritarian and corrupt military regime of Ankara could be replaced by some sort of conservative, liberal and progressive elements, supplemented by a Democratic-Muslim party. There were some signs of this, but Erdogan has changed sides and is now leading a coalition of fundamentalists and nationalists. It's the worst thing that can happen to Turkey.

A modernization change, which many have relied on during the "Arab Spring", has also failed in Egypt or Iraq. But I do not conclude that the Islamic world is immutable. Fanaticism has existed and exists in all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Our nationalism provoked two world wars in Europe and in the world, and a new start was then successful.

Exclusively for subscribers

WORLD: What is worrying is that since the Enlightenment, the West has modernized despite the setbacks, while Islam has become more fundamentalist and more jihadist in recent decades.

Özdemir: Yes. I have not said in the past, to the delight of all, that I do not hear any more when, after every Islamist terrorist attack, it is said that it has nothing to do with it. with religion. If these criminals, be they al-Qaida, Isis, Boko Haram or al-Nusra, invoke Islam after every attack, you can not pretend that it has nothing to do with Islam.

Of course, there is no more Islam than Christianity. But we need an internal Islamic debate on how to prevent the abuse of Islam by fundamentalists. And we need to talk urgently about how these fundamentalist currents are strengthened. The federal government exported weapons to Riyadh just two weeks ago, even though the Saudis had unleashed a brutal war in Yemen long before the badbadination of Khashoggi, as well as Tehran. Saudi Wahhabism.

Exclusively for subscribers

WORLD: What influence should your initiative have on the conference of Islam?

Özdemir: First, we make it clear that Muslims in Germany are diverse. Even supporters of the initiative do not agree on everything. On the other hand, we want to use our document to remind officials that the recognition of Islamic umbrella organizations in its current form would be the wrong way to proceed. Provincial governments, but also the federal government, have in the past demanded too little apex organizations.

WORLD: Can umbrella organizations such as Ditib ever become legitimate partners?

Özdemir: Yes. We are not saying that apex organizations should be excluded forever. I do not close the door but leave it open. But, first of all, Ditib and the other badociations must fulfill the necessary conditions: they must transform themselves from organizations of foreign powers into German representations of national Muslims. They must prove that they are both rooted in our constitution and that, in our common life, the basic law is above every sacred book for them. Until now, Germany is too complacent on this issue.

Exclusively for subscribers

WORLD: Can a religion be laicized? Is not it a contradiction in terms?

Özdemir: The state must establish rules that each religious community must recognize. And the religious community must in turn allow religious texts to be interpreted with modern hermeneutic methods. When I grew up in the Swabian Alb, my mother, a practicing Muslim, said, "Unfortunately, your school does not teach religious religion, but Christians also believe in one God. . "

What fascinated me the most was the subject of verbal inspiration in relation to the historico-critical exegesis. The question is, can I interpret the word sacred contemporary with current knowledge and in the context of where I live? In adolescence, I had already considered: is it really possible in Islam? Of course, it must work. Discussion on these issues should be conducted within the framework of Muslim religious education.