Berlin, March 23, IRNA — One of Germany’s four major Islamic organizations announced it would boycott talks with the German government this week because another Islamic group has been barred from attending the meeting, press reports said here Tuesday.
The Central Council of Muslims said it would not take part in preparatory talks in Berlin on Wednesday to formulate the agenda for a round of meetings between the German government and the nation’s Muslim leaders, set to to start on May 17.
The head of the Central Council of Muslims Ayyub Axel Koehler said his group’s absence from the talks was directed at getting further clarification from Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere as to why the other group, the Islamic Council, should be banned from all the meetings.
The Council of Islam, which is dominated by the Turkish-based Milli Gorus religious movement, was told by the interior minister it was no longer welcome at the German-Islam Conference, a long-running series of consultations with the German government about educational and employment prospects.
Maiziere, whose ministry is funding the meetings and selecting which Muslims may participate, denied speaking rights to the Islamic Council, saying he could not meet with a group whose leaders are under criminal investigation.
The Council of Islam which had taken part in the German-Islam Conference
since 2006, rejected the suspension and said it would withdraw completely.
About five percent of Germany’s population, or four million people, are of
Islamic background.
The largest group of Muslims are of Turkish origin.