ALMANAR
01/12/2009 “A Swiss referendum vote on Sunday to ban new minarets was a public expression of extremism fears but it would not affect relations with Muslim states”, the Swiss foreign minister said Tuesday. "This vote is undoubtedly an expression of fear and concern, fuelled by the omnispresence of images of extremist drift," Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told an OSCE ministers' council in Athens.
Insisting that the vote would not change the country's foreign policy towards Muslim states, Calmy-Rey said that "it will on the contrary motivate us to additional efforts in search of openness and partnership between Muslim and non-Muslim states." The minister noted that the ban on minarets does not affect the building of new mosques and that Switzerland's "well-integrated" Muslim community would continue to frequent over 200 existing places of worship.
She warned, meanwhile, that the ban endangered security. "The reality of our societies, in Europe and in the world (is that) every blow to the co-existence of different cultures and religions also endangers our security," she said, according to a written transcript of her speech in Greece which was released by the ministry.
More than 57 percent of voters who cast their ballot on Sunday backed a proposition by a right wing party for a constitutional ban on the construction of new minarets, upsetting poll predictions. The government, the bulk of Switzerland's political parties as well as the economic establishment had opposed the ban, which drew widespread criticism from the United Nations, Muslim states, fellow European countries and the Vatican.
Turkish leaders condemned the referendum vote and urged the country to "come back from this mistake as soon as possible." The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denounced Sunday's vote as a reflection of Islamophobia and "racist and extreme nationalist waves surging in Europe." "It is our duty... to point at the need to come back from this mistake as soon as possible," he said in a speech in parliament.
"These chauvinist attitudes should be eradicated." The vote, he stressed, has "irked not only the Islamic world but also those who fear a clash of civilizations" and called on European countries and institutions to act against the ban "so as not to plunge the world, particularly Europe, into tensions."
President Abdullah Gul said the vote was "shameful" for the Swiss and showed "how Islamophobia is growing in Western Europe." The foreign ministry said the Swiss vote had been greeted with "great regret" in Turkey, which, together with Spain, chairs the UN-backed Alliance of Civilizations initiative, aimed at fostering respect and dialogue between Islamic and Western societies.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay sharply criticized the Swiss vote, condemning a growing wave of "anti-foreigner scaremongering" in several countries. The right-wing proposal for a ban, approved by more than 57 percent of voters in a referendum, was "discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take," Pillay said. She warned that it "risks putting the country on a collision course with its international human rights obligations," because of its discrimination against a single religion. "I hesitate to condemn a democratic vote," the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.
"But I have no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scaremongering that has characterized political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helps produce results like this."
The UN rights chief cautioned that "politics based on xenophobia and intolerance" of religion, racial or ethnic origin was "extremely disquieting." "It is corrosive and -- beyond a certain point -- can become socially disruptive and even dangerous." "We are not at that point in Switzerland, but this initiative, taken alongside some of the blatantly xenophobic posters in this and several recent political campaigns targeting asylum seekers, migrants or foreigners in general, is part of an extremely worrying trend," she added. UN sources said it was "definitely a growing trend" over the past decade in several European nations.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Tuesday denounced a vote in Switzerland that banned the construction of any further minarets, saying he hoped the referendum result would face a legal challenge.
Mussa, who heads the 22-member organization, told reporters that the ban, approved by almost 58 percent of Swiss voters on Sunday, was a "violation of the rights of Muslims living in Switzerland."
He added that he hoped "the issue will be treated by resorting to the authorities and human rights courts."
Meanwhile, the Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, described the vote as an "insult" to Muslims across the world.
Egypt's minister for religious endowments, Mahmud Zaqzuq, said he was worried there could be repercussions elsewhere in Europe, telling Egyptian television that he feared "the worst was yet to come."
01/12/2009 “A Swiss referendum vote on Sunday to ban new minarets was a public expression of extremism fears but it would not affect relations with Muslim states”, the Swiss foreign minister said Tuesday. "This vote is undoubtedly an expression of fear and concern, fuelled by the omnispresence of images of extremist drift," Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told an OSCE ministers' council in Athens.
Insisting that the vote would not change the country's foreign policy towards Muslim states, Calmy-Rey said that "it will on the contrary motivate us to additional efforts in search of openness and partnership between Muslim and non-Muslim states." The minister noted that the ban on minarets does not affect the building of new mosques and that Switzerland's "well-integrated" Muslim community would continue to frequent over 200 existing places of worship.
She warned, meanwhile, that the ban endangered security. "The reality of our societies, in Europe and in the world (is that) every blow to the co-existence of different cultures and religions also endangers our security," she said, according to a written transcript of her speech in Greece which was released by the ministry.
More than 57 percent of voters who cast their ballot on Sunday backed a proposition by a right wing party for a constitutional ban on the construction of new minarets, upsetting poll predictions. The government, the bulk of Switzerland's political parties as well as the economic establishment had opposed the ban, which drew widespread criticism from the United Nations, Muslim states, fellow European countries and the Vatican.
Turkish leaders condemned the referendum vote and urged the country to "come back from this mistake as soon as possible." The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denounced Sunday's vote as a reflection of Islamophobia and "racist and extreme nationalist waves surging in Europe." "It is our duty... to point at the need to come back from this mistake as soon as possible," he said in a speech in parliament.
"These chauvinist attitudes should be eradicated." The vote, he stressed, has "irked not only the Islamic world but also those who fear a clash of civilizations" and called on European countries and institutions to act against the ban "so as not to plunge the world, particularly Europe, into tensions."
President Abdullah Gul said the vote was "shameful" for the Swiss and showed "how Islamophobia is growing in Western Europe." The foreign ministry said the Swiss vote had been greeted with "great regret" in Turkey, which, together with Spain, chairs the UN-backed Alliance of Civilizations initiative, aimed at fostering respect and dialogue between Islamic and Western societies.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay sharply criticized the Swiss vote, condemning a growing wave of "anti-foreigner scaremongering" in several countries. The right-wing proposal for a ban, approved by more than 57 percent of voters in a referendum, was "discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take," Pillay said. She warned that it "risks putting the country on a collision course with its international human rights obligations," because of its discrimination against a single religion. "I hesitate to condemn a democratic vote," the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.
"But I have no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scaremongering that has characterized political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helps produce results like this."
The UN rights chief cautioned that "politics based on xenophobia and intolerance" of religion, racial or ethnic origin was "extremely disquieting." "It is corrosive and -- beyond a certain point -- can become socially disruptive and even dangerous." "We are not at that point in Switzerland, but this initiative, taken alongside some of the blatantly xenophobic posters in this and several recent political campaigns targeting asylum seekers, migrants or foreigners in general, is part of an extremely worrying trend," she added. UN sources said it was "definitely a growing trend" over the past decade in several European nations.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Tuesday denounced a vote in Switzerland that banned the construction of any further minarets, saying he hoped the referendum result would face a legal challenge.
Mussa, who heads the 22-member organization, told reporters that the ban, approved by almost 58 percent of Swiss voters on Sunday, was a "violation of the rights of Muslims living in Switzerland."
He added that he hoped "the issue will be treated by resorting to the authorities and human rights courts."
Meanwhile, the Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, described the vote as an "insult" to Muslims across the world.
Egypt's minister for religious endowments, Mahmud Zaqzuq, said he was worried there could be repercussions elsewhere in Europe, telling Egyptian television that he feared "the worst was yet to come."
a.gif)
No comments:
Post a Comment