PM Tells Sarkozy Not To Incite To
Islamophobia: Swiss Parliament Rejects SVP Veil Ban
Motion
10 March 2012By Juan Cole
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed on Tuesday that French
President Nicolas Sarkozy is inciting racism and
Islamophobia in France in order to get re-elected in
the upcoming presidential elections. Erdogan said
resorting to xenophobia, particularly Islamophobia, to
win elections is very irresponsible.
Depicting a recent bill Sarkozy's center-right UMP
initiated seeking to penalize the denial of Armenian
claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire
in 1915 as an act inciting the French to xenophobia,
Erdogan said the current president adopted a more
aggressive stance after the bill was passed into law
but then overruled by the French Constitutional
Council, which deemed it unconstitutional. Erdogan
said the council had corrected a historic mistake by
cancelling the law.
Valerie Boyer, a deputy from the UMP, initiated the
genocide bill criminalizing the denial of the
so-called Armenian genocide in December 2011. The bill
was approved in the lower house of the French
Parliament and in the French Senate in January.
However, the constitutional council deemed it
unconstitutional, stating that it violated the freedom
of expression.
"Sarkozy is making xenophobia a matter of domestic
politics, and issuing threatening remarks against
foreigners in his country. This is in violation of the
EU's universal values and fundamental principles,"
Erdogan said. The French presidential elections will
take place between April and May.
Swiss parliament rejects SVP veil
ban motion
The group responsible for launching Switzerland's
anti-minaret initiative has called the rejection of a
motion to ban burqas on public transport and in
dealings with authorities "an affront".
The National Council on Monday rejected a motion by
Swiss People's Party member Oskar Freysinger to ban
the wearing of burqa in certain situations. The
Council decided with a significant majority that
imposing such a ban was unnecessary.
Social Democratic Party spokesman, Hans Stöckli, said
that the majority of women wearing burqas in
Switzerland were tourists, Swiss news agency SDA
reported. Furthermore Justice Minister Simonetta
Sommaruga warned that a blanket ban could violate the
Geneva Convention on Refugees, as it would not
distinguish between those with and without refugee
status.
But the minds behind the anti-minaret initiative, the
so-called Egerkinger Committee, believe a burqa ban to
be worthwhile. The Egerkinger Committee claims that
the rejection of the motion to ban burqas pointedly
ignores the majority who expressly reject the
"Islamization" of Switzerland.
The Committee maintains that while the Swiss
constitution guarantees freedom of expression, wearing
a veil is a denial of that freedom. "Freedom of
expression is exercised in our country with an
undisguised, open, readable face," the Committee said
in a statement.
The Committee said that it was ready to launch a
popular initiative for the banning of the burqa
"without delay".
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