Berlin, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- German Interior minister Horst Seehofer on Wednesday urged the Islamic religious community in the country to begin cutting its ties with foreign donors.
Speaking at the opening of the German Islam Conference (DIK) in Berlin, Seehofer said that local mosques should become more independent in their organization and funding, as well as the training of preachers. While no detailed information was provided as to how to accomplish such a shift to greater autonomy, he announced that existing government assistance for the integration project of mosques would be expanded.
"Muslim naturally have the same rights and obligations as everybody else here in Germany," he said.
Earlier this year, the federal government cut public funding for the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) by 80 percent due to concerns over its close affiliation with Turkish president and inadequate transparency in the use of money from German taxpayers.
The DIK conference was previously mainly used by the federal government as a forum for dialogue with a small number of large Islamic associations which represent Muslims in Germany. In 2018, by contrast, the interior minister has also invited a range of theologists, activists and scientists whose views are known to clash with those of the largely conservative associations in some regards.
"The line-up is more colorful this time, I like that," Seyran Ates, founder of the liberal Ibn-Rushd-Goethe mosque in Berlin, commented on the change.
Nevertheless, the Green party questioned on Wednesday whether Seehofer was the right person to reform the DIK. "It must be feared that a lot of debating time will be required just to smoothen out the atmospheric disturbances," Greens parliamentary faction leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt told the German press agency (DPA) with a view to controversial comments made earlier by the interior minister about the Islamic religion.
Speaking to the newspaper BILD, Seehofer back in March argued that "Islam is not a part of Germany." He added at the time that Muslims living in the country "obviously do belong to Germany", however, this could not mean that Germans would have to sacrifice their "typical national traditions and mores" out of a "false sense of tolerance."
The comments sparked a heated debate and were rejected by the Green party amongst others. Nevertheless, Goering-Eckardt seemed to side with Seehofer on in his attempt to limit the dependence of German mosques on foreign donors by supporting a tougher line against the Turkish DITIB association.
The Greens leader criticized DITIB as an association which did not accept the "fundamental constitutional principles" of German society.
