Source: Qantara
The interviews and speeches given by Germany’s new president, Joachim Gauck, show that he is putting a clear distance between himself and Islam. But as German president, his job is not to polarise, but to differentiate. In this essay, Jan Kuhlmann argues that he should reach out more to conservative Muslims in particular
Christian Wulff’s legacy from his time as German president may be minimal, but one sentence remains and will echo for a long time to come: “Islam belongs to Germany”. Strangely enough, these few words have had a polarising effect, even though (or perhaps precisely because) they merely describe the situation.
About four million Muslims living in Germany are a fact that no one can deny. This fact is also acknowledged by the new president, Joachim Gauck, who has already said that one should expect “no change of direction” from him on this issue.
All the same, Gauck wants to use different words. What line will he take? At this stage, it looks as if he is not planning to cosy up to anybody. Gauck and the Muslims could turn out to be a difficult issue: on the basis of what he has already said, he seems to be putting a clear distance between himself and Islam.