The
study showed that Turkey’s bid to join the newly-enlarged and
expanding European Union was a main focal point for the rightists.
They
exploited voters’ fears of the admission of a Muslim, though
secular, and a relatively poor country, which has a population of over
70 million people, in their thriving euro bloc.
But
the study revealed that the rightists’ attempts have backfired as
they failed to attract votes they direly needed to control Europe’s
political landscape.
European
leaders agreed in December to launch qualified membership talks with
Turkey.
Backers
of Turkey's EU hopes, including heavyweights Britain and Germany, have
long argued that the country was a vital bridge between Europe and the
Middle East.
Extremist
Germany
According
to the study, Germany’s ultra-right National Democratic Party topped
the list of the most extremist anti-foreigners and xenophobic
statements.
The
party, for instance, has been a vocal critic of Turkey’s admission
into the EU and led a ferocious media campaign against the country
with ads saying “No to the Islamization of Europe,” “No
Residency Right for Double Citizens” and “Germans! Protect Your
Country.”
In
the parliamentary election, the NDP was defeated in all German states
save Saxonia.
Some
senior Germany officials were no less extremist in their stances.
Interior
Minister in the state of Bavaria Guenter Beekstein accused the sizable
Turkish community of living in “parallel societies” with their own
cultural and social activities.
Warning
that the “Turkish ghettos” were posing a threat to German society,
the minister called for placing restrictions on immigrants, including
adapting to the prevailing Christian culture.
To
the contrary, German Minister of Economics and Labor Wolfgang Clement
said last year that Turkish investments helped create 300,000 new jobs
for Germans a year.
Freedom
Party
In
Austria, the Freedom Party has centered its electoral campaign on
xenophobic slogans and the threats allegedly posed by immigrants from
the Balkans.
Ads
portraying the party’s leader in Vienna, Hans-Christian Strache, and
warning of creating a “second Istanbul” out of the Austrian
capital were seen in abundance.
The
party’s xenophobic drive was disapproved by many of Vienna
residents, who discolored the discriminatory banners by drawing
swastikas and adding Hitler’s moustache to Strache.
Of
the party’s members, only Andreas Molzer made it to the EU
parliament and immediately established with French and Belgian
right-wingers two anti-immigrants parties.
Condemned
The
increasing use of racist and xenophobic elements in political
discourse has been blasted by the ECRI which adopted on 17 March a
declaration condemning this alarming and “ethically unacceptable”
trend, according to its Web site.
It
expressed deep concerns that “the use of racist, anti-Semitic and
xenophobic political discourse is no longer confined to extremist
political parties, but is increasingly infecting mainstream political
parties, at the risk of legitimizing and trivializing this type of
discourse.
The
ECRI also stressed that “this type of discourse often conveys a
distorted image of Islam, intended to portray this religion as a
threat, and that anti-Semitism continues to be encouraged, openly or
in a coded manner, by certain political leaders and parties.”
Commenting
on the study, European Council Secretary General Terry Davis said that
“Europe’s parties should stand shoulder to shoulder in combating
xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.”
He
dismissed racism and intolerance as “an obstacle to the values of
world democracies.”
The
Council of Europe, which is not part of the EU, is an international
organization of 46 member states in the European region.
Membership
is open to all European states which accept the principle of the rule
of law and guarantee fundamental human rights and freedoms to their
citizens.
One
of the main successes of the Strasbourg-based Council was the European
Convention on Human Rights in 1950, which serves as the basis for the
European Court of Human Rights.
