'Islam doesn't belong in Germany' says country's interior minister

GERMANY'S strained relationship with its millions of Muslim immigrants has taken a fresh turn for the worse after it emerged that the new interior minister has said that Islam "doesn't belong" in the country.

Just months after Chancellor Angela Merkel said that multi-culturalism had "utterly failed", Hans-Peter Friedrich has reignited a bitter debate over the future of German efforts at integration by virtually declaring Muslims' religion an alien entity.

Mr Friedrich - who is supposed to preside over an annual Islamic conference that seeks to bring Christians and Muslims closer together - made his comments last week, a period that brought into sharp focus the perceived danger of radical Islam in the midst of the German population with the shooting dead of two US airmen and the wounding of two more at Frankfurt Airport at the hands of an extremist gunman.

Mr Friedrich was brought into his role due to a cabinet reshuffle triggered by the resignation of the country's defence minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, after it was revealed parts of his doctorate were plagiarised.

The interior minister said that Muslims living in Germany "were part of society but (the idea] that Islam belongs in Germany is something that has no historical foundation".

In October, German president Christian Wulff, a member of Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), caused waves when he declared "Islam is a part of Germany" during a speech celebrating the 20th anniversary of German reunification.

Mr Friedrich is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the CDU, and some of his fellow right-wingers evidently share his views.

"Of course there are Muslims in Germany," CSU general secretary Alexander Dobrindt told newspaper Welt am Sonntag this weekend. "But Islam is not part of the German leitkultur."

"Lietkultur" means "lead culture".

Mr Dobrindt's counterpart from the CDU, Herman Grhe, told German television: "This country has been uniquely influenced by Christianity.

Historically, Islam has not left a similar mark."

Justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the centre-right Free Democratic Party (FDP), has already criticised her fellow cabinet member, declaring: "Of course Islam belongs in Germany."

She added: "I assume that the new interior minister … takes the responsibility for integration in his department seriously and is committed to solidarity and not marginalisation."

FDP integration policy expert Serkan Tren recommended that the Justice Ministry take over the Islam conference from the Interior Ministry after learning of Mr Friedrich's viewpoint.Late last year, Thilo Sarrazin, a former Bundesbank board member, lost his job but gained support among millions with his book Germany Does Away With Itself in which he warned that society was "dumbing down" due to Muslims.

Mr Friedrich belongs to a party, and represents a class, which sees Muslim immigrants as a real threat to the Christian fabric of Germany. He, like Ms Merkel, opposes Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Nevertheless, a day after his incendiary comments, his spokesman attempted to soothe tempers, saying that Islam was a reality in Germany.

But the spokesman added: "That does not stand in opposition to the fact that Germany and German culture are above all characterised by the Christian religion and will remain so in the future."