Envoy criticises Austrian parties, ministry and policy
AUSTRIA protested to Turkey yesterday after its ambassador suggested Turks living in Austria were treated “like a virus” and denied the chance to integrate.
In unusually blunt remarks by a career diplomat, Kadri Ecvet Tezcan also told the daily Die Presse that Austrian parties were not doing enough to counter the far-right which has gained electoral support on an anti-Muslim platform.
Austria’s Foreign Ministry summoned Tezcan over the interview and Minister Michael Spindelegger telephoned his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu to complain.
“He crossed many red lines. His remarks were unacceptable,” spokesman Alexander Schallenberg said.
Tezcan said Austrians were not interested in other cultures except when they went on holiday. Turkish people form the biggest Muslim community in Austria.
“Turkish people are happy, they don’t want anything from you. They just don’t want to be handled like a virus. Society should integrate them and profit from them,” he said.
Problems with integration of Muslim minorities have become a subject of debate in several west European countries, especially Germany, the Netherlands, France and Britain. Austria is among EU countries sceptical about the prospect of Turkey joining the 27-nation bloc.
At the start of yesterday’s article, Die Presse quoted Tezcan as saying: “Do you want me to respond in this interview like a diplomat, which will be boring? Or should I answer as someone who has lived in Vienna for a year and has lots of contact with the 250,000 Turkish people here?”
Schallenberg said that Tezcan could not argue that his comments were made in a personal capacity because there was “no such distinction” for a diplomat.
He also said that Tezcan did not represent 250,000 Turkish people because half of them have Austrian citizenship.
In the interview, Tezcan said it was “incredible” that the Austrian Interior Ministry was responsible for integration as a whole and not just visas and security.
“The Interior Ministry should stop intervening in the integration process,” he said, because this meant all integration problems were handled by the police. Tezcan also criticised Interior Minister Maria Fekter, a conservative, saying she was “in the wrong party” because she did not embody liberal values of her centre-right party.
“I spoke with the interior minister (about my concerns), she didn’t want to hear it. She is in the wrong party,” he said.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry said Turkey’s Davutoglu had not known about the interview and Vienna did not think that it represented Ankara’s views. Schallenberg said Austria wanted to keep up good bi-lateral relations.
Turkey and Austria have important ties in the energy sector. Turkey plays a role in the Vienna-based Nabucco gas pipeline project and Austrian oil and gas group OMV wants develop it as an energy hub for Europe.
