Muslims with assets secured in Swiss accounts should rethink their banking choices in the face of the passage of Sunday's referendum on banning minarets in the country -- and look to Turkey as an alternative, Turkish State Minister and chief negotiator for the EU Egemen Bağış has said.
Bağış' comments came amidst a growing wave of official discontent across the world in reaction to Swiss voters approving on Sunday a constitutional ban on minarets in their country. The referendum was immediately condemned by human rights and Muslim groups worldwide and Bağış, speaking with a group of journalists in Stockholm, also weighed in harshly on the issue.
“I’m sure that this decision will serve as an occasion for our brothers in Muslim countries who keep their money in Swiss banks to reconsider their decision to do so. The doors of Turkish banks, all of which escaped unscathed in 2008 while major world banks sank, are open to them,” he said.
The minister said that it was a mistake to bring the issue to referendum to begin with, saying: “Switzerland is not an EU member. If it were, it would have been forced to maintain the EU standard.” Noting that EU countries like France and Sweden had reacted negatively to the news of the ban, he continued: “The EU is also discomfited over this development. If this attitude doesn’t change, Switzerland won’t be able to escape being an ‘open-air museum of intolerance’.” Bağış said he believed Switzerland would reconsider its move in the face of condemnation and pressure from the international public.
Bağış’s recommendations might just reverberate with some. In the face of strong international reactions to the ban, a domestic debate has reportedly begun in Switzerland as to whether the move will result in any economic backlash for the nation, with many economists among the list of those displeased with the referendum’s results. Switzerland receives an average of 250,000 tourists annually from Muslim countries, generating 5 percent of the nation’s tourism income.
Protestors surround a symbolic minaret to protest the Swiss referendum result. Swiss voters on Sunday approved a ban on minarets, a move that has been severely criticized around the globe.
German minister: freedom banned
The Swiss referendum and ensuing ban on minarets for mosques in the country does not fit with the German understanding of religious freedom, Joachim Herrmann, the interior minister of the German state of Bavaria, has said.
Speaking in Munich, Herrmann said there was no chance of a similar decision being made in Germany. “A ban on minarets contradicts the understanding in Germany of what freedom of religion is. The construction of new mosques and their minarets must take place with mutual understanding,” he said, also commenting that the Swiss referendum showed that there was a need for further progress in integrating foreigners.
Other German officials have also expressed concern over the ban in Switzerland and what it means for Europe as a whole, with State Minister Maria Böhmer also saying that such a thing would never take place in Germany and noting that interfaith and intercultural dialogue were essential components to national unity. İstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
Ban inspires anti-immigrant parties
Following the success of the anti-minaret referendum in Switzerland, anti-immigrant political parties throughout Europe are developing plans to bring similar referenda to their own nations.
While nations like Germany have noted the impossibility of a minaret ban in their own countries, groups in France, Italy, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands -- some of them political parties with extreme anti-immigrant stances often indistinguishable from xenophobia -- appear to have been inspired by the Swiss constitutional ban on minarets. Some even say they have begun the processes to bring minaret bans to a vote in their own countries. Geert Wilders, head of the Dutch Freedom Party, has said his party “will call upon the government to make a similar referendum possible in the Netherlands.” In Denmark -- a country without even a single minaret -- Danish People’s Party head Pia Kjaersgaard welcomed the Swiss ban and said her party would also seek a similar vote. İstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
Urs Rellstab, spokesperson for Economiesuisse, Switzerland’s biggest umbrella economic organization, also released a statement following the referendum, noting that 7 percent of the nation’s exports went to majority-Muslim nations. As these are developing markets, they hold particular importance in this crisis period, Rellstab noted. Swiss media are also picking up on this dimension of the issue, with daily La Liberte noting business circles’ concerns that the ban would constitute another blockade for Swiss banks and lead to an outflow of money elsewhere in addition to other negative economic ramifications.
Bağış also pointed out that in Turkey, with a 99 percent Muslim majority, non-Muslim minorities like Armenians, Jews and citizens of Greek ancestry had been able to worship freely for centuries at churches and synagogues. The freedom assigned houses of worship belonging to different faiths was a point also touched upon by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary group yesterday, where without mentioning Switzerland expressly he said: “The Eid al-Adha holiday [that just passed] once again was a means through which people experienced unity and togetherness. Just as this people has lived together in unity and togetherness throughout history, they will continue to do so. Mosques, churches and synagogues will live together in the same environment. In our country, where tolerance reigns, this is no problem at all.”
Foreign Ministry, Gül weigh in on swiss intolerance
President Abdullah Gül, answering questions about the issue before boarding a flight to Jordan, said that the referendum was a critical indicator of rising Islamophobia in Switzerland. Calling it a shame for an issue involving basic freedoms to be taken to referendum in the first place, Gül said: “This topic must be followed closely. This has been an attention-grabbing element in demonstrating how what we know as Islamophobia in the Western world develops a hatred of Islam. For the Swiss, this is a shame.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also voiced its official reaction yesterday, releasing a statement that said the move to ban minarets had “created disappointment” and said it ran contrary to freedom. “Turkey, one of the co-chairs of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations initiative, is amidst an intensive effort to strengthen an atmosphere of mutual understanding and tolerance between different cultures and beliefs. This decision of the people of Switzerland has been met with great sorrow in our country. On the other hand, the decision made is also a cause of concern for the over 100,000 of our citizens who have accepted Switzerland as their second home,” the statement read, adding that Turkey along with the international public was waiting for Switzerland to redress this situation.
Deniz Baykal, leader of the Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), brought up the minaret ban during his party’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday and criticized the decision. “And now we’ve even seen mosques, minarets being banned by a vote. But I see this as an important point from which Europe can perform some introspection, and for us to reexamine Europe and ourselves,” he said. Baykal asserted that the ban on minarets had nothing to do with architecture and that the ability for such a referendum to even take place necessitated a reevaluation of Europe’s outlook, stance and status with regards to Islam and Muslims.
Meanwhile, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said in a statement that her ministry was working to provide information to the ambassadors of Muslim countries in Bern. “We are trying to inform in particular Arab and Muslim countries on the issue of the voting results. I met with the ambassadors of the relevant countries regarding the matter,” Calmy-Rey said. Nearly 400,000 Muslims live in Switzerland, a nation with a population of 7.5 million. The referendum to ban minarets passed with a 57.5 percent “yes” vote and despite the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s efforts, is continuing to draw harsh criticism from countries with and without Muslim majorities.
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