PARIS: A row has erupted in France over plans to build a mosque in Strasbourg, with the interior ministry on Wednesday accusing the municipal authorities there of using public money to fund “foreign meddling” on French soil.
While President Emmanuel Macron wants to crack down on Islamic extremism, which he blames for a series of deadly terror attacks in France since 2015, the planned mosque in the eastern French city has found itself in the government’s crosshairs because it is backed by a leading Turkish Muslim group.
On Monday, municipal officials in Strasbourg, run by a Green mayor, approved a grant of 2.5 million euros (nearly $3 million) to the Milli Gorus Islamic Confederation (CMIG), a pan-European movement for the Turkish diaspora.
But the CMIG is one of three Muslim confederations in France that have refused to sign a new anti-extremism charter championed by Macron.
Macron wants the groups to commit in writing to renouncing “political Islam” and to respecting French law, as he seeks to combat radical Islam which he sees as a threat to the country’s secular system.
The government has also drafted legislation which would force Muslim groups to declare major foreign funding and would give the state increased powers to shut down speech judged to spread hate or violence.
“We believe that this association is no longer able to be among the representatives of Islam in France,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said of the Milli Gorus group on BFM television.
“We believe that this municipal authority should not be financing foreign meddling on our soil,” he added.
Macron warned against Turkish meddling in France’s presidential elections next year, in an interview broadcast Tuesday.
Relations between France and Turkey have been battered by disputes over the conflicts on Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, and Turkish accusations of Islamophobia in France.
Darmanin said he had asked the government’s top regional representative to file an administrative court complaint to stop the subsidy.
Strasbourg Mayor Jeanne Barseghian has said the mosque project has been in the works since 2017, before she was elected, and that the funds are contingent on Milli Gorus presenting both a solid financing plan and “a reaffirmation of the values of the Republic.”
A CMIG official, Eyup Sahin, told AFP that his association was refusing to sign the charter because it had not been allowed to fully participate in its elaboration.
“It was done by two or three people,” Sahin said. “If we sign a charter, it will be one that we have all worked on together.”
Darmanin is set to meet again in the coming days with the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), an umbrella group of Muslim organizations, to try to hammer out an accord.
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Row erupts in France over state funding for Turkish mosque
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Row erupts in France over state funding for Turkish mosque
- Local authorities have been accused of using public finances to fund “foreign meddling” on French soil
- Macron seeks to combat radical Islam, which he sees as a threat to the country’s secular system
European military mission set to begin in Greenland
NUUK: European military personnel were due to begin arriving in Greenland on Thursday, shortly after a meeting between American, Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington failed to resolve “fundamental disagreement” over the mineral-rich, strategic Arctic island.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to take control of the autonomous Danish territory, arguing that it is vital for US security.
France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland’s capital Nuuk.
“Soldiers of NATO are expected to be more present in Greenland from today and in the coming days. It is expected that there will be more military flights and ships,” Greenland’s deputy prime minister Mute Egede told a news conference on Wednesday, adding they would be “training.”
“The first French military personnel are already on their way. Others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.
The deployment of a 13-strong Bundeswehr reconnaissance team to Nuuk from Thursday was at Denmark’s invitation, the German defense ministry said, adding it would run from Thursday to Sunday.
The deployment was announced on the same day that the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.”
“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.
“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.
“I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.
He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”
Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland after ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.
On the streets of Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity this week.
Some residents described anxiety from finding themselves at the center of the geopolitical spotlight.
“It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk.
“I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” Stidsen told AFP.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to take control of the autonomous Danish territory, arguing that it is vital for US security.
France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland’s capital Nuuk.
“Soldiers of NATO are expected to be more present in Greenland from today and in the coming days. It is expected that there will be more military flights and ships,” Greenland’s deputy prime minister Mute Egede told a news conference on Wednesday, adding they would be “training.”
“The first French military personnel are already on their way. Others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.
The deployment of a 13-strong Bundeswehr reconnaissance team to Nuuk from Thursday was at Denmark’s invitation, the German defense ministry said, adding it would run from Thursday to Sunday.
The deployment was announced on the same day that the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.”
“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.
“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.
“I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.
He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”
Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland after ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.
On the streets of Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity this week.
Some residents described anxiety from finding themselves at the center of the geopolitical spotlight.
“It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk.
“I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” Stidsen told AFP.
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