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‘There are no burqas here’: Meet the head of the German Muslim Council

Politicians are whipping up fear about Muslim women wearing burqas for their own political advantage, says Aiman Mazyek, head of the Central Council of Muslims.

'There are no burqas here': Meet the head of the German Muslim Council
Aiman Mazyek. Photo: DPA

The Central Council of Muslims in Germany was established in 1987 and includes several civil society groups as well as roughly 300 mosques throughout Germany. Sven Lilienström, founder of Faces of Democracy, spoke with Aiman Mazyek, the current head of the organization.

Mr Mazyek, democracy is for many Germans self evident. You were born here – what significance does democracy have for you personally?

I gave an interview to Das Parlament newspaper several years ago in which I said that “democracy is currently the best form of government.” I still believe that. For me democracy provides the opportunity to live peacefully alongside and with one another while choosing our own way of life.

I see myself as a patriot to our constitution and to the values of our Basic Law, without any exceptions. The Central Council of Muslims worked for a long time to achieve agreement on that point with its members, which resulted in the “Islamic Charter” being published more than ten years ago. I’m proud that I was part of that process.

The Austrian government banned full-face coverings in March this year. The Christian Social Union in Bavaria want to do the same. What is your opinion on such a ban?

This ban is unnecessary, and the legal decisions run the risk of being politically instrumentalized. In Germany there is not a single woman who wears the burqa, and most of the women who wear niqabs – we estimate there are not more than a hundred – are visitors from abroad. This debate gives fuel to the populists and serves the agitators.

SEE ALSO: Eight things to know about Islam in Germany

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has on several occasions compared Europeans to Nazis, and warned that they can't safely travel abroad in the future. How much do such statements damage the Muslims who live here?

These aren't the first cheap Nazi comparisons. They are a scandal, both for the victims of the Nazis and for us as Germans.

By the way, the heads and hearts of German Turks are won through persuasion and incentive, not through compulsion and decades of stalling, like on the question of Turkish membership of the EU. In my opinion, the discussion about how to deal with our Turkish Germans needs a bit more honesty than the current moral double standards.

How contentiously was the constitutional referendum in Turkey discussed by members of your organization?

Most importantly, everyone had the freedom to choose on this matter. We didn’t give people a recommendation and we didn’t take a political stance. We are a German religious community and alongside our many different members, we include a German-Turkish association.

After New Year 2016 in Cologne, there was much verbal ill will against the Central Council of Muslims and against you individually. What is the situation like now?

The situation has become even worse over the past year. In 2016, we had the highest ever number of attacks on Muslims and their institutions – we are constantly pointing out that hatred towards Muslims is growing in Germany.

The general assumption of extremism against all Muslims encourages Islamophobia. It plays into the hands of right-wing populists. People are afraid and increasingly don’t trust Muslims, this is a development which has its dangers.

What are your expectations for the election year 2017?

Above all we hope of course that radical groups won't manage to drive a wedge further into our society, and further alienate communities from one another. I hope and expect from all democrats that they place themselves on the side of democracy – without ifs or buts.

This interview was first published in German by Faces of Democracy.

INTERVIEW

‘My song is about resilience’: The Ukrainian in Sweden’s Mello song contest

Maria Sur, 17, arrived in Sweden in March after a journey of hundreds of kilometres through Ukraine and Poland from Zaporizhzhia, her home town. She tells The Local's Yuliia Kyzyk of what she hopes to gain from taking part in the Melodifestivalen song contest.

'My song is about resilience': The Ukrainian in Sweden's Mello song contest

THE LOCAL: After weeks of war, a long journey, and emigration to Sweden, you still found the strength to participate in charity concerts in your first month here in Sweden. Tell us about your journey to Melodifestivalen. 

Maria Sur: The next day after I arrived in Sweden from Ukraine, I started looking for opportunities to work. It was obvious that whining and suffering would not help anyone, so I had to do something that would give me strength and help other people.

Since my passion is singing, I decided to continue working on it. I literally wrote to a lot of popular Swedish singers to find a way of making my dream come true and eventually, one of them helped to take part in my first charity singing festival for Ukraine.

As a result, we collected €8 million to help Ukraine. A few days after the festival, I got spotted by Warner Music Sweden. After a meeting and talk about my goals and skills, we started cooperating with them, and after a few months of hard work, we decided to take part in Melodifestivalen.

Maria Sur had been a participant in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: Maria Sur
 
Before the start of the Russian invasion, I was already working on a singer career in Ukraine. I took part in national singing competitions, and I was quite successful. It seemed like the best time in my career was approaching. I lived, dreamed, and acted, and then one day someone just came and took it all away. Everything just broke down. And suddenly I found myself in a situation where I needed to start all over again.

Now I live for today. Now I know that no one in the whole world can know what awaits us all tomorrow. Of course, I continue to dream, it helps, but I can no longer plan, or live in illusions. And it’s scary that young people like me think this way. That we live one day at a time.

My first goal at Melodifestivalen is to do a really quality performance that I will be proud of. I want to feel after the performance, “I did everything I could. I did the best I could. It was honest. People felt it.”.

That is more important for me than results. 

Maria Sur on stage in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: The Voice Ukraine

THE LOCAL: Your song for Melodifestivalen is called “Never give up”. What is the message your song has for listeners?

Maria Sur: “Never give up” is a song about my way, about my personal fight. This is my motto. You have to go forward no matter what. This is about my experience before the war, when I fought for a long time to end up singing on a big stage in Ukraine. And this is about my road now, when despite the war, separation from relatives and home, I still go on. With this message, I want to encourage Ukrainians and everyone in the whole world who needs to know it, to continue fighting on his own path. I don’t want to be pitied or win sympathy. My song is about resilience. My story is sad, but it is about strength.

Maria Sur (centre), surrounded by the team backing her at the Swedish arm of Warner Brothers. Photo: Maria Sur
 

THE LOCAL: Russia’s full-scale invasion caught us Ukrainians sleeping. What were the first weeks of life in the new reality in Ukraine like? And how do you see your journey as a refugee shortly afterwards?

Maria Sur: I remember February 24th clearly. Early in the morning, I had online lessons at school, I was going to go to an English class, and in a few hours it became obvious that the war had started. It was very unexpected for me personally. We hadn’t had any conversations in our family about it before it happened. 

I remember very well how many people I saw panicking, at the same time air raid sirens were sounding continuously and everyone ran to the basement. My family could not believe that all those things were happening. We were convinced that everything would be over in a few days. That is why we didn’t want to leave Ukraine. 

My family always stick together. However, in two weeks it became clear. We must leave my city, Zaporizhzhia. For three days we could not pack for the journey. Whenever we attempted to do it, we sat down and cried. Eventually, Dad stayed at home, and Mom and me were forced to go. 

I remember the train station in my city at that time – huge queues, a lot of people and everyone crying, saying goodbye to each other. The trains were completely packed with children and women. It was impossible to cross the carriage of the train because of the hundreds of people inside.

My city is located in the southeast of Ukraine, so we were evacuated to Poland by travelling almost through the whole of Ukraine. It took a very long time. At the border with Poland, they did not want to let the train pass, because it was completely full of people.

So we were sent back to Lviv, a city in the west of Ukraine. Still, a few days later we got to Poland. Later in March we flew to Sweden to my aunt. 

Maria Sur is interviewed on stage by the Norwegian TV host Fredrik Skavlan. Photo: Zap Group
 

How you have changed in the months that have passed since the war started? 

Maria Sur: I have grown up very quickly. I started to appreciate things that I used to ignore. I started to support my parents and my friends. I look differently at things such as happiness. For instance, I was happy when I got the news that I had been selected for Melodifestivalen. But it was not the same joy as I felt before the war, especially since, five minutes previously, I had talked to my dad, who is now in Ukraine, and told me everything that is happening there now.

Despite everything, we must go on living. If we have this chance to live, we should take everything from it to the maximum. That’s what I’m trying to do, and that’s what I’m singing about.

Today, we must not stop talking about the war in Ukraine, we must continue to organise charity concerts, as well as make music to support people.

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