BERLIN
Germany’s Muslim organizations have condemned last week's terrorist attacks in Paris and warned against growing Islamophobic propaganda used by populist movements and political parties.
Erol Purlu, spokesman of the Coordination Council of Muslims, an umbrella organization of Muslims made the remarks on Tuesday, at a press conference on the first day of German Islam Conference, a forum of dialogue between representatives of the German government and of Muslims in Germany.
He said: "The attack in Paris is an attack to our democratic values. It is also an attack to our Islamic values. There can be no legitimization for terror."
"Terrorism has no religion. We are condemning these terror attacks in the strongest way."
- 'Bridges of dialogue'
The response came as suspicion and intolerance towards Muslims has increased in Europe days after Franco-Algerians Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32, killed 12 people, including journalists and cartoonists in a gun attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
The suspected perpetrators were killed by police on Friday in a warehouse in Dammartin-en-Goele, a small town north of Paris.
Germany’s Muslim organizations warned on Tuesday of the dangers of growing support for the recently formed anti-Islam movements like PEGIDA in the German city of Dresden.
Purlu said, on behalf of the Muslim organizations: "We should not allow radicals, extremists and terrorists to divide our society."
"We should not allow them to ruin the bridges of dialogue we have established together with decades of long, hard work."
- 'Hatred and violence'
German Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere thanked Muslim organizations for their clear stance against violence and terrorism.
He said at the press conference: "The overwhelming majority of Muslims throughout Germany show that hatred and violence can never be legitimized in the name of Islam."
"It is unacceptable to refer to Islam for any terrorist goal."
De Maiziere highlighted the decades-long peaceful co-existence between non-Muslims and Muslims in Germany and warned against generalizing against Muslims after the Paris attacks.
“We will not accept the abuse of the terrible murders in Paris to incite hatred or prejudices against Muslims,” he said.
Germany has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe, after France.
- Growing fear
Among the four million Muslims in the country, three million are of Turkish origin.
Germany witnessed an increase in suspicion and negative feelings towards Muslims in recent months as far right and right wing populist parties sought to benefit from a growing fear of Islam and Muslims.
A recently formed right-populist group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA, recently made headlines by significantly increasing its support within months.
The group started weekly protests in Dresden in October with around 500 protesters, but on Monday more than 25,000 protesters attended PEGIDA’s rally in Dresden, marking the largest anti-Islam demonstration by the group.
