German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer who once said Islam does not belong to Germany announced on Friday 7 million euro financing for 50 mosques through out Germany. Announcement came right after German government approved a further 9.5 million Euro for the Gulenist worship project in Berlin.
The financing will be distributed in 3 years through projects, according to the announcement. The aim of the financing is to prevent foreign influence on German mosques as well as Germanization of Muslims in the country, German media reports. The money will finance projects like “open mosque day” and German translation of mosque websites from native languages. It is not immediately clear which mosques will be qualified for the financing. German government this year started mulling “mosque tax” similar to volunteer tax Christians pay to curb foreign influence on German mosques. Turkish government sends imams for more than one thousand mosques in Germany. Berlin has been complaining about the practice. German government has recently approved a resolution which requires German language skills for foreign Imams. The move was considered a move to stop Turkish Imams from coming to Germany to work.
The financing announcement of Horst Seehofer came right after German government approved further fund of 9.5 million euro to Gulenist worship project in Berlin. The total amount pledged by German government into the “House of One” project totaled to 19.5 million euro. The project will house Christian, Jewish and Muslim worship places in one compound.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party member Klaus Dieter Grohler said that the House of One project would be the first of its kind in the world. However, a simple Google research reveals that a similar compound in tourist-favorite Turkish city of Antalya has been serving for years.
Diaspora Daily 