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Seven mosques to be closed and Imams expelled in crackdown

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Austrian government have not stated when they will begin the closure. (Courtesy)

By: Abdirahman Khalif 

Austria’s right-wing government plans to shut down seven mosques and expel up to 40 imams in what it said was “just the beginning” of a push against Islamist ideology and foreign funding 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 Austrian government says 60 of the 260 imams in the country are being investigated, 40 of whom belong to ATIB, a Muslim group close to the Turkish government.

“Parallel societies, political Islam and radicalisation tendencies have no place in our country,” said Chancellor Kurz on Friday.

Austria, a country of 8.8 million people, has roughly 600,000 Muslim inhabitants, most of whom are Turkish or have families of Turkish origin.

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

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.”

The government is dissolving an organisation called the Arab Religious Community. Six of the mosques targeted for closure are run by it: three in Vienna, two in Upper Austria and one in Carinthia.

The imams facing expulsion all stand accused of receiving funding from abroad. Official investigations have been launched in 11 cases. Two of the imams had already been denied extensions to their residency permits.

During last year’s Turkish referendum on expanding the president’s powers, tensions ran high between Vienna and Ankara after Austria said it would not allow campaign-related events. Relations were also strained by Kurz’s staunch opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

 

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