HVD: The European idea must benefit everyone

“Negotiations on Turkey’s accession must focus on the situation of non-Muslim minorities in the country, which continues to this day and in some cases is alarmingly bad,” emphasized Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, in Berlin on Friday. The foreign and European ministers had previously voted in favor of opening another chapter of EU accession talks for the first time in three years. EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, among others, also spoke out clearly in favor of Turkey’s doors being open for accession to the European Union. From the perspective of the HVD, this is an important positive step, said Frieder Otto Wolf. The EU is thus making it clear that it does not see itself as a “Christian Occident” and “is also not impressed by ideological campaigns in which the majority of Islamic countries are fundamentally denied the capacity for modern statehood and culture and it is claimed that the Islamic religion as such is incompatible with modern democracy to a greater degree than other religions.” Frieder Otto Wolf also appealed to the German members of the European Parliament and to the representatives of German foreign policy to place an early and consistent focus on the undivided implementation and validity of human rights in the negotiations, particularly with regard to the right to freedom of religion or belief. He emphasized that the European Union is more than just an alliance in economic matters and, as a community of states, is based on shared fundamental convictions and legal principles. “Any thoughts of joining the EU must therefore be linked to the clear demand that an end be put to the continuing discrimination and sometimes appalling persecution of religious and ideological minorities in Turkey, as in every European country.” He recalled that, among other things, the large Alevi community is still not recognized by the Turkish state and is disadvantaged in many ways compared to traditional Islamic denominations. In the past, Alevis have repeatedly suffered deadly violence at the hands of religious fundamentalists and nationalists. Both members of the Alevi community and members of other religious minorities, as well as non-religious people, are repeatedly confronted with state or social repression in Turkey. Hate-promoting defamation of non-Muslim groups by leading politicians is not uncommon. “Not only in economic terms, but above all in matters relating to the rights of religious and ideological minorities, all negotiations must work consistently to ensure that the European idea of a community of equal members committed to the principles of peace and freedom, equality, democracy and the rule of law, and who stand up for human rights and solidarity, can actually benefit all the people who live here,” says Frieder Otto Wolf. “This is the great opportunity and necessity that must be inextricably linked to the negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the EU. A ‘yes’ to the European Union must not forgo an unequivocal ‘yes’ to freedom of thought, speech and art, nor a ‘yes’ to religious and ideological diversity.”