DİNSEL ŞİDDET BAĞLAMINDA SETA’NIN “ALMANYA’DA İSLAMOFOBİ 2015” RAPORUNUN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Today, one of the most original concepts in the literature of especially sociological studies addressing the Muslim presence in Western Europe is "Islamophobia". Since the integration, religion and identity problems of the Muslim population in Western Europe and the sociological examination of these issues have basically similar characteristics, this concept refers to common connotations for these countries. Although the number of studies on Islamophobia has significantly increased in recent years, they still remain insufficient. However, exempting the studies addressing the subject in a theoretical context leads to a further decrease in the number of these studies. The "European Islamophobia Report 2015" of SETA (Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research) is therefore of great importance. Whereas the inclusion of a great majority of Europe in the report further increases its importance, the collection of data based on a common plan allows for a comparison among countries. In the report in which said “Islamophobia or anti‐Muslim racism poses a growing threat to the democratic foundations of European constitutions and social peace as well as the coexistence of different cultures throughout Europe” 25 countries have been addressed separately by 37 scientists. The report can be accessed from the website (http://www.islamophobiaeurope.com/reports/2015‐reports/) The report proceeds with introducing the concept of Islamophobia in the context of Germany following a short introduction. The section addressing “Absence of Data Regarding Islamophobia” is followed by the section “Gender and Headscarf”. The report is completed with recommendations for especially the politicians following two brief sections addressing Islamophobia within the contexts of feminism and refugee crisis. This study does not address the report in all its aspects but rather focuses on some sections of the report in the context of religious violence. Accordingly, the report has been re‐categorized on the basis of religious violence. The most striking aspect of the report is the over‐emphasis on the racist organization PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident). It appears from the report that nationally well‐known PEGIDA is the most popular of the extreme right wingers in Germany and the Islamophobic attitude is reflected by PEGIDA. Besides, it's unknown how many enraged citizens (Wutbürger) other than PEGIDA, there are in Germany. According to the report the movement came into existence in autumn 2014 and thus falls in line with a longer discourse of anti‐Muslim racism. Around 25,000 people took part in the weekly demonstrations in Dresden alone by the Ministry of the Interior. In its anniversary demonstrations in October 2015, again around 20,000 people took to the streets in Dresden. PEGIDA views ‘Muslims’ as more criminal, sexist, homophobic and terrorist than white Germans. PEGIDA is not just responsible for discursive violence, but also for interpersonal violence. For instance, during PEGIDA demonstrations in Berlin, attacks on people taken to be ‘Muslims’ increased throughout 2015. According to Ministry of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) around 1 million people were registered as refugees in Germany in 2015. Until October 2015, there have been around 850 attacks on refugee asylum homes and in the third quarter of the year, 13 people have been injured in those attacks. Nevertheless, to this date, there is no truly reliable nationwide overview of all attacks against refugees or asylums. In Germany, the growing anti‐Muslim acts become more and more effective day‐by‐day with provocative publications and exclusionary slogans. This attitude which may be taken as a verbal violence turns into a severe verbal attack along with the public demonstrations. In some demonstrations, particularly the Muslim women are targeted with the sexist images given by blonde voluptuous woman with banners saying “Islamophobic but sexy”, “Maria instead of Sharia” and their bikinis bearing the slogan “Burka Free Zone”.According to the report in Germany politicians and the media are insensitive to the Islamophobia. As for 2015, Germany still suffers from a nationwide condition of an absence of data concerning Islamophobia. The absence of data on racism became a public debate only in the wake of an attack on a Synagogue in Düsseldorf. One of the first institutions that collect data about Islamophobia in Germany is DITIB (Turkish‐Islamic Union for Religious Affairs). DITIB combines data from ‘minor interpellations’, as well as police statistics, as well as reports given to them from their own mosques and their staff. The ongoing failure to give a name to the Islamophobic attacks should be seen as part of the political insensitivity. Hence, shortly after the attack to a synagogue in Dusseldorf in October 2000, then‐Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called for an “uprising of the decent [people]” [“Aufstand der Anständigen”]. However, it is understood from the report that even after this call the Islamophobia is described through an abstract and flexible emphasis such as " other discriminating events" or " right‐wing extremism" whereas other social problems such as racism, anti‐Semitism, anti‐LGBT, anti‐Roma (sinti racism) were made clear by giving a name. The facts that the report mainly relies upon the media data and was not prepared using an original research method seem as the improvable aspects of the report. Besides, the lack of addressing the anti‐Islamophobic reactions may be taken as a deficiency of the report.