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Brussels Journal, Belgium
Sept 10 2006
Grey Wolves in Politics: The Immigrant Far-Right Joins the European Left
>From the desk of Paul Belien on Sun, 2006-09-10 21:21
The immigrant vote is becoming ever more important in Europe. In
many countries foreigners are allowed to vote in local elections
(in addition to thousands of immigrants who have been granted
citizenship). In last spring's municipal elections in the Netherlands
the immigrant vote tipped the balance clearly in favour of the Left.
Indeed, immigrants in Western Europe, who often migrated in order to
enjoy generous welfare benefits, are rentseekers who vote in favour
of maintaining the welfare systems of the states that invited them in.
Pim Fortuyn tilted Dutch politics to the Right, but I think this was
only a temporary phenomenon, and would have been temporary even if
Fortuyn had not been assassinated. Pieter Dorsman pointed out that,
contrary to what the mainstream media write, Dutch politics has not
turned Right, but I doubt whether the main causes are the divisions
among the Right following Fortuyn's assassination and the disastrous
handling of the Hirsi Ali case. I suspect that European politics will
swing dramatically to the Left in the coming decades, owing to the
growing influence of an immigrant vote eager to retain and expand
the welfare benefits.
Of course, the immigrants will not be able to remedy the economic
flaws of the welfare state. Hence, there is no doubt that the welfare
systems will collapse. Moreover, the immigrant electorate will thwart
any attempts to gradually remedy Europe's economic catastrophe through
abandoning the self-defeating welfare politics. This makes it even
more likely that the system will collapse in chaos, possibly even
(as Fjordman fears) in violence when the rentseekers will use force
instead of the vote to grab what they feel they are entitled to. Many
indigenous Europeans are considering emigration. Partly because they
no longer feel secure and at home in their own country, and partly
because the welfare state claims most of their income, while they
have little hope that this will change in the future.
In last Spring's municipal elections in the Netherlands, 92% of the
non-indigenous electorate voted for parties of the Left. Moreover,
they voted almost exclusively for candidates of their own ethnic
groups on the parties' electoral lists, driving out indigenous
candidates. Instead of starting their own parties immigrants have
begun to take over existing ones.
Belgium is holding municipal elections on October 8th. It is striking
that in immigrant neighbourhoods, such as the Turkish Antwerp district
of Old Berchem, one only sees posters of candidates from the ethnic
background specific to the neighbourhood. As the immigrants voters
constitute a growing segment of the population, especially in large
and middle-sized cities, all parties, except the "islamophobe"
Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest), have begun to put forward
foreign candidates. Filip Dewinter, the VB leader in Antwerp, told
the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws this weekend that his party (which
is currently the largest in town with 33% of the vote) might win
the elections again this year, but cannot continue to do so. "I am
a realist. The number of potential voters for our party is declining
year by year. Currently a quarter of the population are immigrants.
These people do not vote for us. Every year 4,000 indigenous
Antwerpians move out and 5,000 immigrants move in," he said.
"In ten years' time the number of new [naturalized] Belgians in
Antwerp has doubled to 55,000 [Antwerp has 460,000 inhabitants] -
half of whom are Moroccans. [...] If the number of foreigners in
Antwerp continues to grow by 1.5% a year, as it currently does, then
in twenty years from now there will be more people of foreign than
of indigenous extraction in this city. [...] Our party has foreign
members, but I do not want to be a hypocrite. At present we do no
put forward 'alibi Ali' candidates. But I know that it is bound to
happen some day. We extend our hands to welcome every foreign-born
person who wants to become a Fleming among the Flemings."
It is doubtful, however, that many rentseeking immigrants, even those
who are situated ideologically on the far-right, would want to join
a party that is generally perceived as being opposed to the European
welfare system. Belgian parties had to submit their electoral lists
this week. Ironically, Belgian establishment parties such as the
Socialist Party and the Christian-Democrat Party, who both claim to
abhor the far-right, have put forward Turkish candidates who belong
to far-right, islamist and anti-Socialist groups.
This is ironic in two respects. Firstly because these same parties
solemnly announced that, even if the VB wins on 8 October, they will
refuse to form local coalitions with the VB because they consider the
VB to be... far-right. And secondly, because far-right immigrants,
who belong to groups that hate Socialists and Christians at home, are
joining Socialist and Christian parties in their European host country.
Mehmet Ozcelik, a member of the Socialist Party caucus in Berchem,
is close to the Grey Wolves, an extremist group which denies the
1915 Turkish genocide of 1.5 million Armenians and which is accused
of assassinating political adversaries. The Grey Wolves are also said
to have organised the anti-Kurdish riots and raids on Kurdish shops in
Brussels in 1994 and 1998. Last April 8th, Mr Ozcelik was present at a
Brussels meeting of the Turkish far-right Nationalist Movement Party
(Milliyetci Hareket Partisi, MHP) in honour of the late Alparslan
Turkes, a Turkish Fascist and racist who founded the MHP.
Mesut Yucel is another Antwerp Socialist candidate for the October
elections. Mr Yucel is a party hopper, who entered politics six years
ago on the list of the far-left Green Party. Like Mr Ozcelik, he is a
member of the Belcika Turk Federasyonu (BTF, Association of Turkish
Organisations in Belgium), a group which links various Grey Wolves'
cells in Belgium.
In Ghent, another city with a large concentration of Turks, one of
the Christian-Democrat candidates is Fuat Korkmazer. Mr. Korkmazer
was the chairman of Turk Ocagi (TO), a cultural organisation of the
Grey Wolves. He only resigned from his function as TO chairman last
Friday, after having been exposed in the Flemish press. According
to the papers he had been appointed TO chairman at a BTF meeting
attended by Devlet Bahceli, the current party president of the
far-right MHP. On April 8th. Mr Korkmazer, too, attended the BTF
meeting in Brussels in honour of the late Alparslan Turkes.
Pierre-Yves Lambert, a Brussels police officer, told the Belgian
newspaper De Morgen last week that political parties must be careful
whom they recruit. "The Parti Socialiste in [the Brussels borough
of] Schaarbeek also has a Grey Wolf within its ranks," he said,
"while the second candidate of the MR [Francophone Liberal Party] in
[the Brussels borough of] Sint-Joost-ten-Node withdrew his candidature
after it was revealed that he had told a Turkish paper that he would
make his party revise its position on the [Armenian] genocide."
The leading Turkish politician in Brussels is Emir Kir, a Socialist
member of the Brussels regional government. Mr Kir is the Brussels
secretary for public monuments and is campaigning for the demolition of
the Brussels monument commemorating the 1915 genocide of the Armenians.
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/13 20
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Brussels Journal, Belgium
Sept 10 2006
Grey Wolves in Politics: The Immigrant Far-Right Joins the European Left
>From the desk of Paul Belien on Sun, 2006-09-10 21:21
The immigrant vote is becoming ever more important in Europe. In
many countries foreigners are allowed to vote in local elections
(in addition to thousands of immigrants who have been granted
citizenship). In last spring's municipal elections in the Netherlands
the immigrant vote tipped the balance clearly in favour of the Left.
Indeed, immigrants in Western Europe, who often migrated in order to
enjoy generous welfare benefits, are rentseekers who vote in favour
of maintaining the welfare systems of the states that invited them in.
Pim Fortuyn tilted Dutch politics to the Right, but I think this was
only a temporary phenomenon, and would have been temporary even if
Fortuyn had not been assassinated. Pieter Dorsman pointed out that,
contrary to what the mainstream media write, Dutch politics has not
turned Right, but I doubt whether the main causes are the divisions
among the Right following Fortuyn's assassination and the disastrous
handling of the Hirsi Ali case. I suspect that European politics will
swing dramatically to the Left in the coming decades, owing to the
growing influence of an immigrant vote eager to retain and expand
the welfare benefits.
Of course, the immigrants will not be able to remedy the economic
flaws of the welfare state. Hence, there is no doubt that the welfare
systems will collapse. Moreover, the immigrant electorate will thwart
any attempts to gradually remedy Europe's economic catastrophe through
abandoning the self-defeating welfare politics. This makes it even
more likely that the system will collapse in chaos, possibly even
(as Fjordman fears) in violence when the rentseekers will use force
instead of the vote to grab what they feel they are entitled to. Many
indigenous Europeans are considering emigration. Partly because they
no longer feel secure and at home in their own country, and partly
because the welfare state claims most of their income, while they
have little hope that this will change in the future.
In last Spring's municipal elections in the Netherlands, 92% of the
non-indigenous electorate voted for parties of the Left. Moreover,
they voted almost exclusively for candidates of their own ethnic
groups on the parties' electoral lists, driving out indigenous
candidates. Instead of starting their own parties immigrants have
begun to take over existing ones.
Belgium is holding municipal elections on October 8th. It is striking
that in immigrant neighbourhoods, such as the Turkish Antwerp district
of Old Berchem, one only sees posters of candidates from the ethnic
background specific to the neighbourhood. As the immigrants voters
constitute a growing segment of the population, especially in large
and middle-sized cities, all parties, except the "islamophobe"
Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest), have begun to put forward
foreign candidates. Filip Dewinter, the VB leader in Antwerp, told
the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws this weekend that his party (which
is currently the largest in town with 33% of the vote) might win
the elections again this year, but cannot continue to do so. "I am
a realist. The number of potential voters for our party is declining
year by year. Currently a quarter of the population are immigrants.
These people do not vote for us. Every year 4,000 indigenous
Antwerpians move out and 5,000 immigrants move in," he said.
"In ten years' time the number of new [naturalized] Belgians in
Antwerp has doubled to 55,000 [Antwerp has 460,000 inhabitants] -
half of whom are Moroccans. [...] If the number of foreigners in
Antwerp continues to grow by 1.5% a year, as it currently does, then
in twenty years from now there will be more people of foreign than
of indigenous extraction in this city. [...] Our party has foreign
members, but I do not want to be a hypocrite. At present we do no
put forward 'alibi Ali' candidates. But I know that it is bound to
happen some day. We extend our hands to welcome every foreign-born
person who wants to become a Fleming among the Flemings."
It is doubtful, however, that many rentseeking immigrants, even those
who are situated ideologically on the far-right, would want to join
a party that is generally perceived as being opposed to the European
welfare system. Belgian parties had to submit their electoral lists
this week. Ironically, Belgian establishment parties such as the
Socialist Party and the Christian-Democrat Party, who both claim to
abhor the far-right, have put forward Turkish candidates who belong
to far-right, islamist and anti-Socialist groups.
This is ironic in two respects. Firstly because these same parties
solemnly announced that, even if the VB wins on 8 October, they will
refuse to form local coalitions with the VB because they consider the
VB to be... far-right. And secondly, because far-right immigrants,
who belong to groups that hate Socialists and Christians at home, are
joining Socialist and Christian parties in their European host country.
Mehmet Ozcelik, a member of the Socialist Party caucus in Berchem,
is close to the Grey Wolves, an extremist group which denies the
1915 Turkish genocide of 1.5 million Armenians and which is accused
of assassinating political adversaries. The Grey Wolves are also said
to have organised the anti-Kurdish riots and raids on Kurdish shops in
Brussels in 1994 and 1998. Last April 8th, Mr Ozcelik was present at a
Brussels meeting of the Turkish far-right Nationalist Movement Party
(Milliyetci Hareket Partisi, MHP) in honour of the late Alparslan
Turkes, a Turkish Fascist and racist who founded the MHP.
Mesut Yucel is another Antwerp Socialist candidate for the October
elections. Mr Yucel is a party hopper, who entered politics six years
ago on the list of the far-left Green Party. Like Mr Ozcelik, he is a
member of the Belcika Turk Federasyonu (BTF, Association of Turkish
Organisations in Belgium), a group which links various Grey Wolves'
cells in Belgium.
In Ghent, another city with a large concentration of Turks, one of
the Christian-Democrat candidates is Fuat Korkmazer. Mr. Korkmazer
was the chairman of Turk Ocagi (TO), a cultural organisation of the
Grey Wolves. He only resigned from his function as TO chairman last
Friday, after having been exposed in the Flemish press. According
to the papers he had been appointed TO chairman at a BTF meeting
attended by Devlet Bahceli, the current party president of the
far-right MHP. On April 8th. Mr Korkmazer, too, attended the BTF
meeting in Brussels in honour of the late Alparslan Turkes.
Pierre-Yves Lambert, a Brussels police officer, told the Belgian
newspaper De Morgen last week that political parties must be careful
whom they recruit. "The Parti Socialiste in [the Brussels borough
of] Schaarbeek also has a Grey Wolf within its ranks," he said,
"while the second candidate of the MR [Francophone Liberal Party] in
[the Brussels borough of] Sint-Joost-ten-Node withdrew his candidature
after it was revealed that he had told a Turkish paper that he would
make his party revise its position on the [Armenian] genocide."
The leading Turkish politician in Brussels is Emir Kir, a Socialist
member of the Brussels regional government. Mr Kir is the Brussels
secretary for public monuments and is campaigning for the demolition of
the Brussels monument commemorating the 1915 genocide of the Armenians.
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/13 20
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress