Posted on 11/08/2005 3:59:51 AM PST by ncountylee
ANKARA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged Turkish immigrants living in Europe to avoid getting caught up in violent riots which have ravaged Paris and other French cities for nearly two weeks. Many of the rioters are French-born Muslims of Arab or African origin complaining of racism and unemployment.
There have been no reports of France's large ethnic Turkish community joining the violence, but Erdogan -- a pious Muslim -- is very sensitive to European perceptions of Muslim immigrants as Turkey negotiates to join the European Union.
"I invite the 4.5 million Turks (living in Europe) to behave with common sense and maturity. Destroying and burning cannot be the way to seek (human) rights," Erdogan told a televised gathering of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
"In a globalised world, it is also not possible to live in ghettos. They (the immigrants) must learn to become integrated and to live in peace by sharing common values," he said.
Erdogan said it was important to study carefully the causes of the violence in France, which he listed as "racism, discrimination and neglect of religion".
"Turks must actively participate in the social and political life of the countries they live in," he added. "They should be part of European society while protecting their own values."
Turkey began EU membership talks last month, but is not expected to join the wealthy bloc before 2015 at the earliest.
French President Jacques Chirac, mindful of his voters' nervousness about admitting the large, relatively poor Muslim country of 72 million people into the EU, has promised them a referendum on the issue before Turkey joins.
Germany has the largest number of Turkish immigrants in Europe, though France, Belgium and the Netherlands also have significant numbers.
Nice to see a Muslim not whining.
The Turkish admin in power is taking the slow road to Islamic govt. That being said, the Turks are still way ahead of most of the Muslim world in terms of having gotten out of the 15th century long ago and living with a civil democratic government.
Nothing nice about it. He just wants Turks to avoid a backlash among the victims of their colonization until such time that their numbers mean that they can dictate to those victims. He is correctly rejecting unproductive methods like riots and terrorism for the final and quite permanent victory colonization brings.
mega dittos
There are not many Turks in France.
To my knowledge
there have been very few
(if any)
Turks
involved in terrorist incidents anywhere
outside of Turkey
at least since Agca
and he was bought
by the Bulgarians.
Turkey warns of terror wave if EU membership is rejected
EU Observer | Dec 13 2004 | Lisbeth Kirk
Posted on 12/15/2004 1:10:42 AM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1301677/posts
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