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Last update - 13:45 28/06/2008 Turkish academic fired for likening Turks in Europe to Jews under Nazis By News Agencies Tags: Nazis, Turkey, Jewish World A German institute of Turkish studies sacked its Turkish-born director after he said Turks in Germany and other European countries suffered discrimination similar to that suffered by the Jews in the Holocaust. The Essen-based Center for Turkish Studies, which is funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said on Thursday, June 27, that it had decided to dismiss Faruk Sen for the comment and for previous remarks that presented a distorted picture of relations between Turks and Germans in Germany. Sen had contributed to polarization, rather than integration, the institute's central aim, it said. Advertisement Sen, who has led the well-known institute since its founding in 1985, said he would launch a legal appeal. Speaking to the German daily Tageszeitung from Istanbul, he described the decision as an "overreaction by the executive" in remarks to be published Friday. More than a month ago, Sen compared discrimination against Turks in Western Europe with the persecution of the Jews by Germany during World War II in an article in the Turkish newspaper Referans. Sen apologized for the remarks, which first appeared in an article in the Turkish newspaper Referans. "Although our people, who have lived in central and western Europe for 47 years, have produced 125,000 entrepreneurs with a total turnover of 45 billion euros, they are discriminated against and marginalized like the Jews, albeit to differing degrees and in different ways," Sen wrote. Sen said the article, first published last month, aimed to highlight Anti-Semitism in Turkey and was partly reproduced in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday. In a statement on the ZfT's Web site on Tuesday Sen said he had written the article to draw attention to media attacks against Turkish-Jewish businessman Ishak Alaton but that he had been wrong to make a comparison with the Nazi era. In the article "I made a comparison between the persecution of the Jews during the Nazi period and the situation of people of Turkish origin in Europe today, which in its lack of differentiation ... is unacceptable," Sen said. "Although in my view people of Turkish origin in Europe do suffer considerable marginalization in society, no comparison with the persecution of the Jews can be made," he added. Some 2.7 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, more than in any other country in Western Europe. The ZfT's stated goal is to promote German-Turkish relations and raise awareness about Turkish migrants in Europe. It also helps advise the German government on immigration policy. Related articles: Jewish organization slams German award for former Nazi doctor Chavez apologizes to Merkel after labeling her 'descendant of Hitler' Bookmark to del.icio.us   A fateful week We shall see whether the truce will help bring Gilad Shalit home. Munich anticipated? A German professor says Israeli athletes willfully sacrificed themselves.   1.   So Turks have no country to go to if persecuted in Germany? 10:56  |  Genuine Tosefta 28/06/08   2.   He sounds contrite. Why was he fired? 11:39  |  Akiva P 28/06/08   3.   race and ethnicity should only matter in racist states 12:01  |  anti-racist 28/06/08   4.   Kind of ironic statement 12:06  |  Just an Albanian 28/06/08   5.   Tosefta, it is not the matter of going somewhere 12:37  |  Philp 28/06/08   6.   The Turks in Europe are like the Jews during WW2 13:43  |  Erdinch 28/06/08   7.   What an ignorant idiot!!Giving ammunitionto terrorists in Germany 16:11  |  PETER SM 28/06/08   8.   A silly exaggeration 17:10  |  Mark Lincoln 28/06/08   9.   European Double Standards 17:16  |  Jeff 28/06/08   10.   This is a stupid firing -- there is obviously more going on 17:28  |  Serge 28/06/08   11.   Turks` situation in Germany 18:47  |  Deniz 28/06/08   12.   O, yeah Erdinch the discrimination is such that Mr. Erdogan 20:33  |  Jew- and Bookburner 28/06/08   13.   To my Turkish friends 21:22  |  David Israel 28/06/08   14.   short shrift? 21:29  |  christoph 28/06/08   15.   what did he really say? not clear. i might have agreed depending 21:34  |  ralph 28/06/08   16.   @Deniz: what arson attacks? 21:35  |  sarah 28/06/08   17.   # 4 deniz 22:13  |  Axel 28/06/08   18.   # 3 erdinch 22:18  |  Axel 28/06/08   19.   harsh 22:18  |  reuben 28/06/08   20.   @ Deniz 22:34  |  Brutus 28/06/08   21.   It is VERY hard to open a Church in Turkey 00:17  |  European Christian 29/06/08   22.   #3 Jeff - Read the news 01:56  |  Slibovitz 29/06/08   23.   Read the article - he apologized 01:59  |  Slibovitz 29/06/08   24.   An injustice? 17:48  |  Mark Marshall 29/06/08

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