The rise of racism and Islamophobia in continental Europe

As we suppose that the European democracy was born more than a thousand year ago, we always respect the advice of our European contemporaries on democracy and human rights. Indeed, the political experience of Europe deriving from local processes of parliamentarian development paved the way for the emergence and expansion of the European democratic tradition. Yet, a number of empires had ruled Europe before the First World War after which Fascism and Nazism came respectively to power in Italy and Germany. Apart from the death of some forty million people in the First World War, the ambition of the Nazi Germany to occupy the Continental Europe as a whole concluded with the holocaust, i.e. the systematic murdering of six million Jews under the Nazi motto of "First Germany and then the World will be yours!"

By putting all the blame on Adolf Hitler's lunacy, the European countries seem to succeed in concealing their partnership in such a massive crime against humanity. Against the Nazis' systematic slaughter of the Jews, no European church, including the Vatican, had raised any strong objections; simply because, Catholics, read neither Judaism nor Islam as a proper religion. The Papacy itself, for instance, avoided the critique of Nazis in order not to injure the conscience of European soldiers.

From the Second World War to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Europe has experienced a 60-year-long turbulent period of democracy. In that decisive period, serious steps were taken in the fields of human rights and rule of law, which constitute the phenomenon that we now call "the norms of universal law."

The main characteristic of that European democratic culture had been its inclusiveness, as refugees were not put outside of the democratic mechanisms of the European citizenship. The European countries which had experienced prolonged periods of military rule such as Italy, Spain and Greece, contributed to the expansion of democratic norms in the continent through the European Union. The expansion of democracy continued as the EU opened its doors to accept some of the former member states of the Soviet bloc. In conclusion, the European countries succeeded in the expansion of democratic norms in the continent despite serious drawbacks in economic growth.

One of the decisive challenges of the European democracy has always been Turkey's candidacy for the EU membership. It is a self-evident fact that all members of the EU are Christian majority countries. Moreover, the founding motives of the EU were, first, preventing the emergence of war between the European countries and then maintaining the European power against the unstoppable rise of the United States. Regarding Turkey's 60-year-long candidacy process, it is ironic that the European countries have always been alarmed whenever Turkey's EU membership has seemed to become a true possibility.

Turkey's population seems to worry the European nations about its integration into Europe's political, economic and cultural system. On the other hand, defining themselves by treating the Ottoman and the Turkish image as their "others," the European countries do not want to allow their primary competitor to become a part of the European destiny.

Since the period when Turkey's candidacy to the EU became a real possibility, the European intellectuals were treating Turkey's membership to the EU as indispensable for forming a universal unity. "Otherwise," they were arguing, "the European racists will rise and eliminate the ‘marginal' elements of society."

Today, the European economy struggles against stagnation and Germany seems to be the only economic locomotive of the Continental Europe. If another European country goes bankrupt like Greece did, the Union will most probably fall apart. Meanwhile, Turkey's European aspirations are not as strong as they were ten years ago, as Turkey's economic growth weakens people's support for the tiring and protracted process of Turkey's EU membership.

The Syrian civil war has demonstrated that the political influence of the EU over the Middle-East is weak and the waves of refugees to Europe have exposed the vulnerability and intolerance of its social structure. The European countries now seem to be more desperate in the face of a Russian aggression in the region. The universal norms of law, which are in full effect in the case of European citizens, have become null and void in the case of the Syrian refugees.

Thus, racism and Islamophobia has emerged as the greatest threats in the Western world. Turkey's membership to the EU could have served as an antidote to the rise of racism in Europe. Yet, Europe seems to miss the train, as poverty and racism are on the rise not only in Europe, but also in the world as a whole.

Therefore, the present tension between the EU and Turkey emanates from the continental Europe's return to its conventional pre-WW II political codes.