(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Reacting to Gauck's controversial comments, Aiman Mayzek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, one of four main Islamic groups, said, "The European occident clearly has a Muslim, oriental basis. People who deny this falsify history."
He called on the president to "accept our pluralism," saying "such signals are extremely important for a president" to give at a time when an Islamophobic mood was spreading.
Mazyek's statements were echoed by the head of Germany's Turkish community, Kenan Kolat who urged Gauck "to read the history books."
"Islam belongs to the history of Europe and Germany. Among historians there is no doubt about this whatsoever," he added.
Gauck triggered a controversy among Muslim groups following a recent newspaper interview in which he dismissed his predecessor's view that Islam now has roots in Germany.
Conservative groups were furious when Christian Wulff, who was
president at the time, used Germany's national day in October 2010 to
say that "Christianity belongs in Germany without any doubt. Judaism
belongs without any doubt. But now, Islam belongs too."
In an interview with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Gauck, who was
visiting the Palestinian territories, openly rejected Wulff's comments.
"I would have simply said the Muslims who live here belong in
Germany," he said, adding that while he could not concur with Wulff's
phrasing, "I accept his intention" about urging Germans to adapt to
reality.
"The reality is that many Muslims live in this country," said Gauck, a retired Lutheran pastor who replaced Wulff in March. The interview took place ahead of Gauck's visit to occupied Palestine (May 28-31).
There are around 4.5 million Muslims, mostly Turks and Arabs, living in Germany.
Confronted with daily verbal abuse and racial discrimination, the country's
Muslim community is also grappling with educational problems for their
children and a chronic lack of job opportunity.
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