Turks Running for Office in Austria

This is a guest dispatch from Elizabeth in Austria.

A coalition of migrants of Turkish descent are running for election in a state election. The candidates were presented on Thursday.

Seyfi Öztürk, the top candidate for the “List for our Lower Austria” (LNÖ), is in favor of building mosques in Lower Austria. “The building of these mosques should even be boosted”, says the 38-year-old from the city of Baden. “We don’t want these Turkish cultural societies to establish mosques in cellars.” A minaret must be part of the mosque because a church also has a tower. But: “There needs to be a solution that is satisfactory for both sides.”

It is the first time for a political group comprising Turkish migrants to run for election. Women were ostentatiously clad in hijabs, saying that this is a religious symbol. However, “It’s also alright if a woman decides against wearing a hijab”, says Aysun Güney, a dress maker and ranked number 2 on the list.

“We want to show our strength”, the group says. They see a potential of 50,000 Muslim votes in Lower Austria, calling for dialogue and multiculturalism. Öztürk is demanding better integration conditions and dismisses the need for compulsive German lessons.

[WC comment: Demanding better integration yet they don’t want to learn the language? Did I miss something?]

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.