Hakan Çavuşoğlu, chairperson of Parliament's Human Rights Investigation Commission, said on Tuesday that racism and Islamophobia are increasing rapidly both in European countries and the world, underlining that it has become an industry that needs to be addressed in many areas.

"Islamophobia has become an industry. It is a problem that we encounter in many areas in the film industry, media, sports, and it is an important issue that needs to be solved and worked on as a problem area," Çavuşoğlu said.

A delegation of members of the Racism and Islamophobia Investigation and Research Subcommittee in European Countries, chaired by Çavuşoğlu, traveled to the British capital London for various contacts and research.

Türkiye's Ambassador to London Ümit Yalçın also took part in the delegation's meetings.

In his speech, Çavuşoğlu pointed out that racism and Islamophobia are increasing rapidly both in European countries and in the world, and said that hate speech and hate crimes are evolving into violence day by day.

Çavuşoğlu stated that the commission aims to ensure that Turkish citizens and compatriots live their lives in a peaceful environment where a climate of peace prevails, without being marginalized and exposed to hate speech and hate crimes both in Türkiye and abroad.

Explaining that they visited many European countries and held various meetings as a commission, Çavuşoğlu stated that they listened to the suggestions and wishes of the citizens living in these countries.

Expressing that he and his delegation met with their counterparts in these countries based on the experiences of citizens abroad, Çavuşoğlu stated that they discussed cooperation and working principles.

"We have witnessed especially the existence of hate speech and hate crimes in European countries. In our opinion, European countries should prevent this from now on. Because we think that this will become unstoppable after a while. We carry out our work in this way," Çavuşoğlu said.

Çavuşoğlu said that within the scope of the commission's work, they conveyed their views on the definition of "Islamophobia" as a crime to be included in the penal laws.

The delegation will meet with British parliamentary deputies on Wednesday and exchange views on the fight against racism and Islamophobia.

Islamophobia remains a growing threat across Europe, with several countries enacting policies that have contributed to the institutionalization of an issue that should instead be stamped out with urgency, the latest report has warned.

According to the European Islamophobia Report 2021, Islamophobia was "as pressing a problem" across the continent as it was in previous years.

It said countries such as the United Kingdom and France became "the main spots of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobic incidents."

"Furthermore, anti-Muslim campaigns of far-right parties in EU member states dominate the discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities," read the report, which focused on 27 European countries and was prepared with contributions from 35 leading academics and experts in the field.

The report links the persistence of anti-Muslim racism to "the backdrop of a general worrisome trend: the decline of liberal democracy in Europe."

It warns that major forces within Europe, singling out countries like France, are still "investing less in the fight against Islamophobia, and more ... into normalizing Islamophobia."

"The Islamophobia becoming normalized and institutionalized by liberal democracies such as Austria, Denmark, and France is alarming," the report said.

Anti-Muslim attitudes are widespread in Germany, according to a recent study conducted by the Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR).

Nearly 48% of respondents said they believe "Islam is not compatible with German society," while 29% suggested restricting the practice of Islam in the country.

"Negative attitudes towards Islam are widespread in all groups examined-people with and without a migration background," the researchers said in their report.

Nearly 44% of Germans surveyed argued that Muslim organizations should be monitored by the state's security agencies, while only 16% opposed such a move.

A country of over 84 million people, Germany has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. It is home to around 4.7 million Muslims, according to the official figures.

The country has witnessed growing racism and Islamophobia in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of far-right groups and parties, which have exploited the refugee crisis and attempted to stoke fear of immigrants.

German authorities registered at least 662 Islamophobic hate crimes in 2021. More than 46 mosques were attacked between January and December last year, and at least 17 people suffered injuries due to the anti-Muslim violence.