Austria to close 7 mosques, expel imams in crackdown

[KMack]

BERLIN (AP) - Austria's government said Friday that it is closing seven mosques and plans to expel imams in a crackdown on "political Islam" and foreign financing of religious groups.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the government is shutting a hardline Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques.

The actions by the government are based on a 2015 law that, among other things, prevents religious communities from getting funding from abroad. Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said the residence permits of around 40 imams employed by ATIB, a group that oversees Turkish mosques in Austria, are being reviewed because of concerns about such financing.

Kickl said that, in two cases, permits have already been revoked. Five more imams were denied first-time permits.

The conservative Kurz became chancellor in December in a coalition with the anti-migration Freedom Party.

In campaigning for last year's election, both coalition parties called for tougher immigration controls, quick deportations of asylum-seekers whose requests are denied and a crackdown on radical Islam. The government recently announced plans to ban girls in elementary schools and kindergartens from wearing headscarves, adding to existing restrictions on veils.

"Parallel societies, political Islam and tendencies toward radicalization have no place in our country," Kurz told reporters in Vienna. He added that the government's powers to intervene "were not sufficiently used" in the past.

Friday's measures are "a first significant and necessary step in the right direction," said Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, the Freedom Party's leader. "If these measures aren't enough, we will if necessary evaluate the legal situation here or there."

Austria's move angered the government in Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said the decision "is a reflection of the Islamophobic, racist and discriminatory wave in this country."

"It is an attempt to target Muslim communities for the sake of scoring cheap political points," spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter. He added that "the Austrian government's ideologically charged practices are in violation of universal legal principles, social integration policies, minority rights and the ethics of co-existence

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/...crackdown.html

[Böri]

What is 'hardline Turkish nationalist mosque'? They have Tengrist practices inside? LOL.
Those sorts of mosques are the most modern there is.
It seems Austria prefers Isis-style Wahabbi mosques?
Or maybe the fact that those 'Turkish nationalist mosques' don't accept Austrian converts or other people from the ummah? LOL

[Bosniensis]

Austrian mosques are very much different to Balkan mosques.

1. Austrian were built mostly for immigrants and funded illegaly by certain Arab groups with agenda.
2. They are homeplace of possible terror groups.

Mosques should be built by europeans and for europeans only.

For example: Bosnian and Albanian mosques that are here for hundreds of years.

[Böri]

These 'hardline Turkish nationalist mosques' are ones who are most liberal and the farthest from Isis ideology, actually even hating those sorts of dirty terrorist-producing bigot environments.
Turkish mosques are the best in quality afaik. In other mosques, especially Arab, MENA etc people enter mosques removing their shoes but w/o socks. You have feet smell all around.
In such 'Turkish nationalist mosques' white socks are compulsory for example afaik.

There is a drop in quality at worldwide level.

[KMack]

These 'hardline Turkish nationalist mosques' are ones who are most liberal and the farthest from Isis ideology, actually even hating those sorts of dirty terrorist-producing bigot environments.
Turkish mosques are the best in quality afaik. In other mosques, especially Arab, MENA etc people enter mosques removing their shoes but w/o socks. You have feet smell all around.
In such 'Turkish nationalist mosques' white socks are compulsory for example afaik.

There is a drop in quality at worldwide level.

I think the matter is also foreign money financing them.

[Marmara]

Good thing.

What is 'hardline Turkish nationalist mosque'? They have Tengrist practices inside? LOL.
Those sorts of mosques are the most modern there is.
It seems Austria prefers Isis-style Wahabbi mosques?
Or maybe the fact that those 'Turkish nationalist mosques' don't accept Austrian converts or other people from the ummah? LOL

Erdogan uses mosques to influence Turks in Europe, imams recruited from Turkey are like spies, gathering information and making propaganda. Those mosques are basically runs the authority of Turkey upon Turks.

But no, they aren't nationalist. Europe thinks Erdogan and his followers are nationalists.

[Leo Iscariot]

Austrian mosques are very much different to Balkan mosques.

1. Austrian were built mostly for immigrants and funded illegaly by certain Arab groups with agenda.
2. They are homeplace of possible terror groups.

Mosques should be built by europeans and for europeans only.

For example: Bosnian and Albanian mosques that are here for hundreds of years.

Agreed.

[Óttar]

"Turkish nationalist mosque" ? What is that? The minarets call out, "Tanri Uluduuuuuur!" 5x a day? Also, why is the organization called, "The Arab Religious Community" ? How can they be Arabs when they are Turks?

[Bobby Martnen]

Good. Let's hope they close down the rest of them.

[Odin]