Nermin Aydemir JTW Columnist printable version send your friend message to author add comment ()

Friday, 9 January 2009

The inferno that killed nine people of Turkish origin and injured other 60 in Lundwigshafen was most likely not an act of arson, the prestigious German weekly Der Spiegel reports. The expert group investigating the fire does still not know what caused the calamity, either but ruled out the possibility of a racist attack. Officials report suspecting racially motivated plots in Aldingen, Gelsenkirchen, Marburg, Kreuzberg and Vienna. None of the investigations have clearly traced the cause of the fire. Still, it seems hard to consider these calamities as naturally evoked since all these have taken place in migrant houses in such a short time.

The alarming trend reminds earlier tragedies, which have taken place during 1990s. A racist fire had killed three Turks in 1992, in Mölln. Another one had killed five Turkish females in Solingen in 1993. In 1996, arson harassment had demolished a refugee home in Lübeck. Several other German cities like Rostock, Hoyerswerda and Nurnberg are still combating their hostile images known with mistreatment of foreigners.

The Need for Common Sense

It goes without saying that Germany is not alone in suffering from xenophobia. Countless racist assaults and discriminations take place every day all around the world. Turkey still tries to deal with increasing nationalism which raises concerns from time to time. Netherlands, the country of multiculturalism and tolerance, has experienced significant polarization after 9/11. France fails to comply with the core values of fraternity, equality and liberty in migrant riots in last years. The list can easily be further extended with various other examples.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and German officials urged Turkish media to remain calm however severe the situation is. Indeed, anxiety does nothing other than disturbing the situation and bothering reciprocal relations. In addition to keeping people calm after such hostilities, refraining from generalizations carries crucial importance, as well. Those blaming all the Germans appear to be totally uninformed about what is going on. It is just a few malicious extremists who commit the racist attacks and not the whole society. Not only Turks but also Germans and many others of different origins cried at the funeral of the victims. German firemen fought against fires to rescue the Turkish inside. German officials showed their sympathy to German-Turks. The federal interior minister Wolfang Schaeuble expressed his grief and Commissioner for Migration, Refugees, and Integration, Maria Böhmer, visited Lundwigshafen short after the calamity to be with the relatives show compassion. Yet, it is hard to say that German officials and public opinion have done enough with combating racism and externalizing the xenophobic threats in their country.

German Failures

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her grievance, as well. Yet she is still far away from thoroughly expressing her empathy to the Turkish society in the country. Besides, police officials report investigating the cases but delay in the process significantly strains the credibility of those. In fact, the ongoing investigations seem to be a diplomatic manner of ignoring the issue rather than combating against it. To illustrate, similar radical attacks had also taken place in the Netherlands within the highly polarized atmosphere, short after Theo van Gogh was murdered. The Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende, however, did not choose remaining silent and trying to cover the issue up with “continuing investigations”. On the contrary, Mr. Balkenende was with his citizens of many different origins in several occasions. The Dutch Queen visited minority schools and institutions to make those of different origins feel at home. Remaining silent would mean more or less sharing the same opinion with the extremist, otherwise.

Embracing Differences
   

Expressing one’s own norms, values, standards, feelings, interests within a common framework and finding response in this regard carries significant importance if we are trying to integrate people. Every culture needs to work sincerely to open a meaningful space for minorities of no matter what origin. Alarm bells start ringing when the main culture fails to include individuals with many different characteristics. All societies are divided into several subcultures, which differ in terms of values. Cultures within cultures exist all around the world. The situation, however, gets worrisome when these subcultures are formed by exclusion and when those subcultures significantly differ from each other. Governing authorities carry the responsibility of creating common values and standards for their people, in multicultural contexts. When states fail to achieve such commonalities, people create their own norms and values which are not always in consistent with the other ones.

The entire society, but especially the decision-makers are responsible for creating social bonds among the individuals, who build up the society. Just as any other social organization, states hardly survive without strengthening belief in, attachment to, commitment to and involvement in its nation. A state needs to ensure that its people ensure the general principles of its founding culture, guarantee the sensitivity of opinions of others among the people living in the country, undertake the responsibility of tying social rewards to conformity and lastly make individuals spend time in conventional activities together with other individuals in the society.

Concluding Remarks

France experienced severe riots in 2005, which cost around 9000 cars, 200 million Euros, 2,888 arrests, hundreds of injured people and one life. The country had to declare a state of emergency to cope with the situation. A smooth end to the trouble still seems far away. Troubles in the German have not reached that extent so far but the country appears to cover distance in this direction. When all these are taken into consideration it is hardly possible to consider the German Chancellor as being compatible in terms of building a peaceful coexistence in her country. Merkel missed a significant opportunity in terms of building strong ties not only with the Turkish society, but also with other minorities in this context. Rather than being a true friend on a very difficult day the German PM has chosen to cover the racists up and seems to persist doing so.