ألمانيا: رئيس البنك المركزي يطالب بفصل "سارازين" لعباراته المسيئة للإسلام

في واقعة غير مسبوقة طالب رئيس البنك المركزي "أكسيل فيبر" وأربعة من أعضاء البنك - فيما يشبه اتفاقًا بين إدارة البنك والرئيس الألماني "كرستيان فولف" - بفصل "ثيلو سارازين" من عضوية البنك المركزي؛ بسبب عباراته المسيئة للمجتمع الإسلامي والمهاجرين بـ"ألمانيا"، التي أثارت غضب كثير من الأوساط العالمية والمحلية.

فقد أثار عبارات "سارازين" التي اتهمت المجتمع الإسلامي بالتأثير السلبي على الأوضاع الثقافية والاقتصادية، التي ضمنها كتابه "ألمانيا تدمر نفسها" قطاع عريض من المجتمع الألماني وعلى الفور طُولِب بالاستقالة من عضوية الحزب الديمقراطي الاشتراكي والبنك المركزي.

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Germany's central bank decides to sack board member

Bundesbank to ask German president to dismiss Thilo Sarrazin over comments on country's Muslim population

Germany's central bank today took the unprecedented step of sacking a board member after he repeatedly criticised the country's Muslim population and said "all Jews share the same gene".

In a brief statement, the Bundesbank president, Axel Weber, and four other board members said that they had been in unanimous agreement in dismissing Thilo Sarrazin, who caused an outcry when he said Muslims were sapping Germany's intellectual and economic strength.

The board's decision, taken at an extraordinary meeting, is the first such in the institution's 50-year history. All that remains is for the German president, Christian Wulff, to sanction the dismissal of Sarrazin, according to the bank's rules. Wulff has signalled he will do so, calling Sarrazin's remarks damaging to Germany's international reputation.

Sarrazin has written a book, Germany Is Destroying Itself, published this week, which unleashed a scandal and led to calls for his resignation from the Social Democratic party as well as the bank.

His widely publicised remarks have been compared with those of the Dutch populist Geert Wilders. Sarrazin said Germany's economic strength as well as intelligence were undermined by immigration from Muslim countries and the higher fertility rate of such immigrants. He told the Welt am Sonntag paper: "All Jews share a particular gene, Basques share a certain gene that sets them apart."

Sarrazin, a former finance minister for the state of Berlin, is descended from Huguenots, French Protestants who found refuge in Germany and elsewhere from Catholic persecution in the 17th century.

Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this week described his remarks as "completely unacceptable" and in danger of causing division. Germany is home to about four million Muslims, most of Turkish origin, and about 280,000 Arabs.

Among Sarrazin's statements is his concern that Germany is being changed beyond recognition by its immigrant population and what he says is its unwillingness and unsuitability to integrate.

"I don't want my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live in a mostly Muslim country where Turkish and Arabic are widely spoken, women wear headscarves and the day is measured out by the muezzin's call to prayer," he said.

His remarks have been condemned by almost every political figure in Germany, as well as Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups. At the same time they have received the backing of far-right groups such as the National Democratic party, as well as a substantial portion of television viewers and radio listeners, who praise Sarrazin for having the courage to address issues that are largely taboo.

Ralph Giordano, a German-Jewish writer, said Sarrazin's arguments should be given more consideration: "It's so typical of the multicultural media that we have to get worked up over how he addresses the issues, instead of what he's saying."

Even those who condemn his remarks strike a word of caution over his ostracism. Manfred Güllner, head of the polling institute Forsa, said that if Sarrazin were stripped of his Social Democratic party membership as well as his Bundesbank job, it might have the effect of "mobilising the far right", which has an estimated untapped voter potential of 10-14%.

The banker sticks by his views, though admitting this week the psychological pressure of criticism is hard to bear. He said he could not be thought racist, because of his mixed background with ancestors who had been model immigrants.

In an interview with a German newspaper, he said: "I am myself a European mongrel. On my father's side, the family is descended from Huguenots from Lyon. I have an English grandmother, somewhere or another an Italian great-great-grandmother; and you can see from my Slavic cheekbones that my mother comes from West Prussia ... My name is derived from the Arab pirates called Saracens in the Middle Ages. As a young man ... I looked more Turkish than many Turks".