Turkey warns Germany of sanctions over religious-language issues

Turkish State Minister Faruk Celik said Monday there were problems in Germany regarding religious and language education.

Language and religious issues are ones that can not be given up as part of human rights. The procrastination on these issues and not taking steps towards a solution lead to meaningless and unnecessary debates, Celik said.

German Chancellery Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration Maria Boehmer and an accompanying delegation visited Faruk Celik at his office in Ankara on Monday.

Pointing out to difficulties experienced following the adoption of the German Law on Immigration in 2007, Celik said that the requirment to speak German is an issue that could be overcome.

The regulations may make it possible to send back immigrants who could not learn or speak the German language. We discussed this issue in the past. I think that the union of family members is a fundamental human right and if a result can not be obtained on the German language after a certain period of time, then we may talk about certain sanctions, Celik indicated.

Language and religion are issues that can not be given up based on universal human rights. Not taking steps on these issues lead to meaningless and unnecessary debates, Celik said.

Touching on the importance of religion, Celik said that the first goal should be to teach Islam from the right source.

If Islam is taught from the right source, there will not be any problems regarding dialogue among religions and co-existence, Celik underlined.

In regard to vocational training, Celik said that Turkey could make contributions to determining standards in this field.

Reminding the establishment of a new Presidency on Turks living overseas and Relative Communities, Celik said that the law on the Presidency has been submitted to Turkish President Abdullah Gul for his approval.

There have been unfair and baseless evaluations on the Presidency on Turks living overseas. The new entity is crucial for more than five million Turks living in 155 countries across the globe, Celik said.


/World Bulletin/