SAS's comments

Europe's chickens have finally come to roost. For years Europe has treated its immigrants with contempt and disdain, insisted newcomers fully assimilate with refusing to respect their right to be who they really are. This is in addition to the overt discrimination Turkey has faced over its EU bid simply for being Muslim.

Mr Erdogan, after having reformed his country's economy and political system in order to meet rules, could and should have been the most pro Western leader of any Muslim nation. That he has today become such an brave and articulate critic of Western policies is something the intolerant likes of Merkel and Sarkozy can be given full blame for.

I am a non US citizen living in a small military town in Alabama. I am frequently disgusted and revulsed by the militarism of the local culture, that all to frequently incessantly glorifies the US military, despite the obscene burden it places on the US coffers - and that is not getting even started on its horrific human rights records in the countries with the misfortune of being invaded by the US in the past - Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam et al.

The fact is, at a time when the US has the world's biggest national debt and is bogged down by two illegal and unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are close to 46 millions Americans lacking basic health insurance and who are one serious illness away from bankrupcy. Millions of American families are threatened with foreclosures, and the income disparity between rich and poor Americans is one of the worst in the developed world.

The highly immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are dubious luxuries a nation with serious economic difficulties can ill afford and no amount of jingoistic ultranationalistic flag waving can camoflage this. The US needs to end its occupation of Iraq, withdraw its forces from the parts of the world they are not wanted in, end bankrolling Israel's apartheid against Palestinians and start focusing on domestic needs.

@Steamerbg

Germans and Turks are clearly NOT the same race - if they were there would be no racism against the latter community, although given German tendency to hate just about anyone on any basis ( remember the Nazi Holocaust against European Jewry that looked, acted and talked exactly like other Germans ? ) that is not a given.

I reviewed some of the comments on this forum and yes, I am convinced racism in Germany is alive and kicking.....

I wish you well in your life in the new country. Please remember, however, that as long as you respect the laws in the new country you migrate to, you are NOT under any contractual obligation to leave any aspects of your native culture back in the country you leave.......that is the whole beauty of multiculturalism.

An Indian who watches Bollywood films in America, eats Indian food and speaks Indian languages with his friends and family in his new homeland can be respected and accepted as long as he respects American laws and makes a contribution to American society. The same goes for Mexicans, Chinese and Latin Americans.....

But if a Turk or Arab does the same in Germany or France, he/she will be accused of failing to ``integrate'' - this is what exemplifies intolerance.

The opposite of multiculturalism is neither integration nor assimilation but totalitarianism that creates a false sense of homogenity and seeks to deprive humans of their freedom to be who they really are.

@ NorthLost - I stand fully behind by statement about the inherently racist nature of the German mindset. Reading through some of the comments on the forum, I am vindicated fully.

For example on of the German forumers on the Economist site told a German Turk who was critical of German attitudes towards migrants that he should go back to where he came from and the German government would give him a one way ticket. The reality is, most Germans lack the maturity to accept criticism of their intolerant, immature attitudes towards migrants and their tendency to project their hatred towards their Jewish community has now found a new target.

Angela Merkel has been attacking multiculturalism for many years, there is nothing particularly original about her hostility towards immigrants at all. The reality, however, is that German myopia towards migrants predates her - it was Helmut Kohl in the 1990s who proclaimed rather blithely that ``Germany was not a nation of immigrants'' - actually yes it was, with over 8 million of them. However, the reality is, that denial of the rights of migrants, and denial of even their existence has been a part of the German mindset for a long time.

Germans love to accuse their migrant workforce of not ``integrating''. It was the infamous German propagandist Joseph Goebbels who proclaimed that if you repeat a lie again and again people will believe it. If you repeat the big lie that Turkish people are a burden and a liability to Germany and that Turks refuse to integrate simply because they choose to maintain their own identity, then people will believe it, as do many people on this forum.

When German went on his homicidal rampage against its neighbours last century, tens of millions paid with their lives. Millions of migrants, Muslims included shed their sweat, blood and tears after being imported by the governments their to rebuild the shattered economies after the Second World War. Today, the children of the migrants serve a useful purpose for right wing ideologues in Germany and elsewhere - to be demonized as a means of whipping up xenophobic hatred come election time. This use them then abuse them treatment of migrants and minorities is an indictment of Germany and other European countries where racism, intolerance towards immigrants and minorities and brash xenophobia are endemic.

The whole nature of the ``integration'' and the ``multiculturalism'' debate exposes the crass hypocricy that defines German attitudes not just to their minorities and migrants but also to themselves.

One the one hand Germans hold themselves as an example of a vibrant, dynamic democracy that supposedly cherishes human rights and pluralism. The above excellent article proves that despite much in the way of high brow rhetoric about German values, German society remains at core intolerant at best towards anything that even vaguely smacks of cultural diversity. Minorities in general and migrants in particular are expected to kowtow towards German ``Leitkultur'' - this term in particular being uncomfortably close to the racial supremacy theories of the Nazis. Immigrants to chose to maintain their own identity by speaking their own language, sticking to their own customs and traditions and keeping ties with their home countries are rather gratuitously accused incessantly of failing to ``integrate'', making Germany's claim of respecting minority rights rather amusing when brought into perspective with Merkel's shrill denunciations of ``multi-kulti.

Turkey's transformation in recent years has been extremely rewarding to follow. The country has made rapid socio economic progress in recent years and the political system is far more stable and reliable as compared to the 1990s when it was run by a whole series of short lived unreliable coalition governments who were not able to tackle the country's myriad of problems. Despite the occasional controversies, the Erdogan administration has been able to provide good governance to a country that needed it badly.

What intrigues me and many others is this. The Turkish economy is doing extremely well outside the EU, with the European financial mess dragging down many of its more mature counterparts elsewhere in Europe. So why any Turk would want to join the unenviable Tower of Babel known as the European Union is beyond me. Let the Turks build a vibrant, dynamic country outside the EU and let Europe, with it sclerotic hypocricy collapse under its own weight.

Does it actually occur to anyone following this story that whatever the merits of the UAE's case for open skies, that country is NOT under any contractual obligation to allow Canadian troops on to its soil ? Similarly, Canada does NOT have the automatic right to be maintaining its troops on other country's soil. At issue is not just aviation and commerce but the rights of sovereign nations to make their own autonomous decisions.

Turkish immigrants and German Turks have proven themselves in all spheres of German life. There are Turkish entreupreners who employ hundreds of thousands of Germans, Turkish politicians in the Bundestag, Turkish origin footballers in the national team, Turkish Miss Germanys, Turkish pop stars representing Germany at the Eurovision.

One has to research the hard facts to realize that Sarrazin's barely veiled racism against Germany's immigrants is not just politically but also factually incorrect.

Racism, intolerance and xenophobia are problematic in both Europe and the United States.

In the US, many Americans implicitly and otherwise condone some of the worst abuses committed by their government overseas - the support for the occupation of Palestinian territories, the illegal invasion of Iraq, the overthrow of governments overseas - Iran, Venezuela, Chile. And antipathy towards undocumented migrants is endemic.

In Europe, racism against legal and illegal immigrants is out of control, discrimination in all walks of life against minorities is well documented, and a shocking proportion of Europeans oppose Turkey's EU membership on narrow cultural/religious grounds.

So it is highly debatable if one side can adopt a holier than thou attitude towards the other.