The city of Brussels, a very calm and nice European town, despite being the capital of the European Union, was severely shocked last week by a terrible event: A visitor during a busy day entered the Jewish Museum, took a Kalashnikov rifle from his bag and opened fire on the innocent people who were at the entrance of the building, killing all four of them, and left the premises tranquilly afterwards. The murder scene was televised and broadcast later using security camera recordings.
Nobody could understand the reasons for such terrible murders, and the Belgian police could not come up with any clues. By a very obscure description of the murderer, the police forces of all EU member states were mobilized. Five days ago, almost by pure coincidence, French civilian custom officers arrested the warranted person in Marseilles, whose name is Mehdi Nemmouche and who is a French citizen. He has already been accused of a number of felonies and has spent a couple of years in prison where it is thought he was contacted by radical movements. After having been released, this person who has no income, no employment and no qualifications travelled from France to Syria via Beirut and Istanbul. Upon his return from Syria, he also took a long trip to Malaysia and Thailand. How he could manage to carry out such long trips and obtain finances remains a big question mark.
His arrest has brought to the agenda the terrible murders committed a year ago in France, by Mohammed Merah, who assassinated three unarmed soldiers in cold blood in front of their casern, and two days later killed three children and their instructor, while they were leaving a school belonging to the Jewish Community. The common denominator of these murders is that Muslims in Europe committed these crimes and they targeted Jews. In truth, such atrocities aim to turn the popular masses against given communities and remain unknown as to who and what financial resources support them. As a matter of fact, the situation of terrorist attacks in the EU is not very easy to decipher: According to Europol reports, available on the Internet, during the year 2010, 249 terror attacks were carried out in EU countries, out of which three are ascribed to radical Islamic movements. However, out of 649 arrests that have been made related to these attacks, 179 have been arrested because of their relations with radical İslamic movements.
In Norway, the most atrocious terror attack happened in 2011 on the island of Utoeya, by Anders Behring Breivik who, disguised as a policeman, assassinated 77 young people with automatic weapons. This sick murderer, along with his fascistic impulses, was also deeply influenced by religious thoughts, as was discovered after the atrocity. However, no one thought -- rightly so -- to blame the Christian faith or Protestantism after such a terrible event. In EU countries, separatist movements or extreme left and underground anarchist cells instigate most of the terror.
Islamophobia, which is insidiously infiltrating minds in European societies, can somehow be explained by the need to put a name on shortcomings concerning public security. However, it is extremely hazardous to show as a target -- or as a "model culprit" -- migrant populations of the Muslim faith legally residing in Europe. The latter might have to some extent problems totally integrating in society, but what is being done is an overt operation to provoke large masses against a so-called "Islamic threat." Today, more than 18 million citizens of the Muslim faith live in different EU countries, which is more than the population of an average EU country. It is becoming more and more important that Turkey and the EU establish a system of permanent dialogue and cooperation, like the "Alliance of Civilizations" started by Spain and Turkey in 2005. Whatever perspective we can adopt to look at EU-Turkey relations, rapid improvement remains very important for the future of Turkey, the EU and the Muslim populations living in the EU.
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