Build a mosque in Amsterdam.....

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

THE HAGUE -- If Amsterdam city council bars construction of the Westermoskee mosque, a great demonstration of Turks from throughout Europe will be held. The possibility of this degenerating into violence cannot be ruled out, the Turkish organisation Milli Gorus warns.

The controversial Westermoskee in Amsterdam will be built come what may, said Fatih Dag of the Turkish mosque organisation in Trouw newspaper. If the government blocks its building, Milli Gorus will call on Turks throughout the whole of Europe to demonstrate. Dag hopes this would be a peaceful procession, but fears it could get out of hand. "Our people are emotional and someone crazy can just be walking among them," he said in the newspaper.

The building of the 42 metre tall, 18-million euros Neo-Ottoman Westermoskee was blocked months ago after Milli Gorus' orthodox German head office replaced management in Amsterdam. After that, reports surfaced that Milli Gorus had wheedled billions of euros out of Turks since the 1990s by having them invest in Islamic investment funds.

Amsterdam politicians advised against the building of the new Westermoskee in the 1990s for fears of the orthodox course, but after much lobbying, the project was last year dubbed a symbol of integration by the then Justice Minster Donner, who laid the foundation-stone. Last week, it was made known that municipal authorities and Milli Gorus had suspended their cooperation on the building anyway.

If the licence for the mosque is definitively withdrawn, this would be "extremely foolish," warns Dag. "I will then immediately call for a demonstration. If every Milli Gorus mosque in Europe sends a bus, it will certainly be busy. I have not tipped off Al Jazeera, but they will certainly get wind of it, and I will speak to them. That will go out to the entire Arabic world, cross my heart. All Muslims have a satellite dish, so they will see that a beautiful project for Muslims is being forbidden here."

"Do not forget", added Dag in Trouw, "that we began the project with a number of Turks, but with all the hindrance, it has now become a matter for many Muslims throughout the Netherlands. I expect a revolt among them, naturally within the legal boundaries, but still: Our people are more emotional than you Europeans. And there can be a crazy person among them."

Amsterdam's Mayor Cohen declined to comment on the apparent threats by Dag. According to his spokesman, the mayor does however want to hear "what is going on" personally from Dag.

http://www.aina.org/news/20070521194558.htm

[almaty 19]

stupid remarks by a stupid person

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

stupid remarks by a stupid person

I agree. It should be interesting to see if stupid people listen to him.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

"Our people are emotional and someone crazy can just be walking among them," he said in the newspaper.

imagine that.......

[almaty 19]

stupid remarks by a stupid person

I agree. It should be interesting to see if stupid people listen to him.

i agree, if someone makes threats and a country gives in...well, what's is the next demand?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

They should allow the mosque to be built. The day after it's inaugurated with the usual pomp, it should be blown to pieces and a monument to atheism and rationality built on its site instead.

[almaty 19]

They should allow the mosque to be built. The day after it's inaugurated with the usual pomp, it should be blown to pieces and a monument to atheism and rationality built on its site instead.

well, that would certainly get their attention

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

They should allow the mosque to be built. The day after it's inaugurated with the usual pomp, it should be blown to pieces and a monument to atheism and rationality built on its site instead.

well, that would certainly get their attention

Yeah. Some messages need to be emphasized. In this case, the message would be - "Welcome to Europe, azzhole".

[almaty 19]

They should allow the mosque to be built. The day after it's inaugurated with the usual pomp, it should be blown to pieces and a monument to atheism and rationality built on its site instead.

well, that would certainly get their attention

Yeah. Some messages need to be emphasized. In this case, the message would be - "Welcome to Europe, azzhole".

well, that is true,.,,but it should be "Welcome to Europe, azzholeS" ..why leave someone out..

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

They should allow the mosque to be built. The day after it's inaugurated with the usual pomp, it should be blown to pieces and a monument to atheism and rationality built on its site instead.

well, that would certainly get their attention

Yeah. Some messages need to be emphasized. In this case, the message would be - "Welcome to Europe, azzhole".

well, that is true,.,,but it should be "Welcome to Europe, azzholeS" ..why leave someone out..

Aah yes, inclusion - that most noble of European traditions

[almaty 19]

They should allow the mosque to be built. The day after it's inaugurated with the usual pomp, it should be blown to pieces and a monument to atheism and rationality built on its site instead.

well, that would certainly get their attention

Yeah. Some messages need to be emphasized. In this case, the message would be - "Welcome to Europe, azzhole".

well, that is true,.,,but it should be "Welcome to Europe, azzholeS" ..why leave someone out..

Aah yes, inclusion - that most noble of European traditions

lol..that was good

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

A minaret too far for Europe

North of Berne, in an idyllic Alpine valley, cowbells tinkle, a church steeple rises, and window boxes tumble with geraniums. It has always been like this.

But down by the railway station the 21st century is rudely intruding and the villagers of Wangen are upset.

"It's the noise, and all the cars. You should see it on a Friday night," complains Roland Kissling, a perfume buyer for a local cosmetics company. "I've got nothing against mosques, or even against minarets. But in the city. Not in this village. It's just not right."

The target of Kissling's ire is a nondescript house belonging to the region's Turkish immigrant community. The basement is a prayer room where hundreds of Muslims gather every week for Friday rites.

And in a case that has gone all the way to Switzerland's Supreme Court, setting a keenly watched precedent, the Turks of Wangen have just won the right to erect a 6m-high minaret.

But if Ulrich Schluer has his way the Wangen minaret will be toppled. An MP from the right-wing Swiss People's Party, Schluer has launched a crusade to keep his country culturally Christian.

"Unlike other religions," he argues, "Islam is not only a religion. It's an ideology aiming to create a different legal system. That's sharia. That's a big problem and in a proper democracy it has to be tackled. If the politicians don't, the people will."

Switzerland's direct democracy rules require referendums if there is enough public support. Schluer has launched a petition demanding a new clause in the Swiss Constitution stating: "The building of minarets in Switzerland is forbidden." He already has 40 000 signatures. If, as expected, he reaches 100 000 by this time next year a referendum is automatically triggered.

"We've got nothing against prayer rooms or mosques for the Muslims," he insists. "But a minaret is different. It's got nothing to do with religion. It's a symbol of political power."

The native backlash has begun. And not just in Switzerland. "It seems our experience here is resonating across Europe," says a Swiss official in Berne.

"Culture clashes" over Muslim religious buildings have erupted in Italy, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands.

"Christian fundamentalists are behind this," says Reinhard Schulze, professor of Islamic studies at Berne University. "And there's also a lot of money coming in from the Gulf states."

From London's docklands to the rolling hills of Tuscany, from southern Austria to Amsterdam and Cologne, the issue of Islamic architecture and its impact on citadels of "Western civilisation" is increasingly contentious.

The far right is making capital from Islamophobia by focusing on the visible symbols of Islam in Europe. In Switzerland it is the far-right SVP that is setting the terms of the debate.

"This is mainly about Swiss politics," says Schulze, "a conflict between the right and the left to decide who runs the country ... Islam [is] a pretext."

Next door in Austria the far-right leader Jorg Haider is also calling for a ban in his province of Carinthia, even though there are few Muslims and no known plans for mosques. "Carinthia," he said, "will be a pioneer in the battle against radical Islam for the protection of our dominant Western culture."

In Italy the mayors of Bologna and Genoa last month cancelled or delayed planning permission for mosques after a vociferous campaign by the far-right Northern League, one of whose leaders, Roberto Calderoli, threatened to stage a "day of pork" to offend Muslims and to take pigs to "defile" the site of the proposed mosque in Bologna.

While the far right makes the running, their noisy campaign is being supported more quietly by mainstream politicians and some Christian leaders. And on the left pro-secularist and anti-clericalist sentiment is also frequently ambivalent about Islamic building projects. Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne has voiced his unease over a large new mosque being built for the city's 120 000 Muslims in the Rhineland Roman Catholic stronghold. A similar scheme in Munich has also faced local protests.

This opposition is on a collision course with an Islam that is now the fastest-growing religion in Europe and which is clamouring for its places of worship to be given what it sees as a rightful and visible place in west European societies.

"Islam is coming out of the backyards. It's a trend you see everywhere in Europe," says Thomas Schmitt, a Bonn University geographer studying conflicts over mosques in Germany.

Estimated at about 18-million and growing, the Muslims of western Europe have long worshipped in prayer rooms hidden away from public view. Their growing self-confidence, though, is reflected in plans for the Abbey Mills mosque, Britain's biggest, in east London, which is intended to have a capacity of 40 000.

Last month there were scuffles at the site of the Westermoskee in west Amsterdam. A Dutch government minister broke ground for building one of The Netherlands' biggest mosques last year. But the project is mired in controversy and may not be completed.

In Berne, the Swiss capital, the city authorities have just denied permission to turn a disused abattoir into Europe's biggest Islamic cultural centre, a £40-million complex with a mosque, a museum on Islam, a hotel, offices and conference halls.

Schmitt says by hiring leading architects to build impressive mosques that alter the appearance of European cities Muslims are making a commitment to the societies in which they live. "This is a sign of normalisation, of integration."

But in Wangen, that message falls on deaf ears. "First it was a cultural centre, then a prayer room, and now a minaret," says Kissling. "It's salami tactics. The next thing it will be loudspeakers and the calls to prayer will be echoing up and down the valley. Our children will ask 'what did our fathers do', and their answer will be -- they did nothing."