If only Europe could see its own flaws


The rise of racist and anti-Islamist groups was expected in the European Parliament elections. However, the results were shocking.Le Pen's racist National Front Party in France, the Danish People's Party, the U.K. Independence Party and the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands could succeed in becoming the second parties. The central-left could be successful only in Greece and Italy. Even today, the level of racist attacks and discrimination is alarming in Europe. So, what are the reasons for this picture in which Muslims and people from the East are becoming increasingly uneasy on the continent?Doubtlessly, it has some solid grounds such as the everyday practices of Europeans, and their conflicts with refugees and old-generation migrants. This could be seen as a tolerable reflex to a certain extent. But aside from "natural" causes, the real problem is the fact that the European political actors also trigger this conflict with other interventions.Also, those impeding the will of living together and the united Europe ideal simply for votes are not only nationalist parties. Some political figures from left, liberal, and Green groups also intervene in the process. They are making the problem worse with their hostile attitudes against Turkey, a country that can contribute to a solution for the integration problems of millions of foreign-origin Europeans with its membership. Due to the politicians' stance against their home countries, foreigners in Europe cannot build a safe sense of belonging to the country of which they are citizens. Germany, boasts about 3 million Turkish-origin residents. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, who addressed Turkish-origin German citizens in Cologne last week, touched upon this integration problem. He advised people to learn the native language of the country in which they live and join cohesion policies. He also pointed to the German government for the solution of their problems. However, Erdoğan's moderate messages were ignored by most politicians or were twisted, as the Greens' co-chair Cem Özdemir did. For instance, although Erdoğan prevented a group from howling at German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his speech, Özdemir told the press that Erdoğan made people howl at Merkel.However, aren't politicians who theoretically support a healthy integration process for people of foreign origin with the help of their home countries, supposed to act differently?The integration problem and the rise of radical nationalism could make trouble in both Europe and the rest of the world in future periods. However, European politicians who make this problem bigger with their political passions still do not look at themselves. They are still busy with the internal affairs of Turkey, which is not their business. For instance, in Germany, assaults, hate crimes and even murders of Turks and Muslims by radical leftists and sometimes even by officials have been routine. Besides, the offenders are protected by police, intelligence units and the judiciary. Despite this picture requiring urgent reform, German politicians are spending most of their energy criticizing the Turkish government's sovereignty area as if they are opponent politicians in Turkey. Surely, the anti-Turkey campaign systematically carried out by the European press with misinformation or manipulation has a great role in the rise of this problem. Couldn't they guess how the Turks in their country would feel when they read a comparison between Hitler and their prime minister in newspapers? Or couldn't they see that the radical nationalist Europeans would be blunter with this hate speech in the media?The problems in Europe are no less than the problems in Turkey. I hope the alarming results of the recent European Parliament elections would alert the politicians because their attempt to teach a lesson to others while overlooking their own issues is now becoming funny.