Published 1 October 2024 at 17.43
Foreign. Germany's environmentalist agriculture minister Cem Özdemir has sparked fierce debate after he revealed in a guest column that his daughter is being sexually harassed by men with an «immigrant background». Özdemir, whose party has long advocated open borders, is now calling for a reevaluation of the country's asylum system.
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Cem Özdemir's confession is described as the latest in a series of repositioning by representatives of the governing parties, who are hard pressed by the successes of anti-immigration parties.
In his column in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Özdemir describes how his daughter, who is about to graduate, is regularly harassed.< /p>
«When she's out on the town, she and her friends are often exposed to unpleasant looks or sexualized by men with an immigrant background,» he writes.
Even if the daughter has become «tough-skinned» to handle the situation, he feels which causes the whole thing to affect her deeply. Özdemir also points out that «patriarchal structures» and the view of women in many Muslim countries play a large role in the problem.
Cem Özdemir, who is Turkish himself, represents the environmental party The Greens — a party known for its fight for open borders. Despite this, he now expresses criticism of Germany's asylum policy and believes that the country's current system is not sustainable. He proposes stricter controls and measures to ensure that only those who have the right to be in the country are allowed to stay.
«We need to know who is in the country. We need to make sure that only those who are allowed to be here is in the country», writes the politician.
He also highlights that his daughter hesitates to speak openly about the harassment because she does not want to give «extreme right» parties, such as the Alternative for Germany (AFD), room to exploit the issue politically. At the same time, he states that many immigrants work hard and do their best to integrate.
Özdemir is now demanding that the left-liberal movement take the lead in reforming migration policy. He believes that the asylum system too often favors the strongest and most aggressive, which needs to change.
Özdemir also mentions the terrorist act in Solingen as a wake-up call to tighten the country's migration policy. He argues for more consistency in establishing identities and harsher punishments for those who commit crimes, as well as that society must make clear demands on language skills, work and respect for German constitutions.
Critics believe that Özdemir's actions may be a strategic move, as the Greens have recently suffered greatly reduced voter support, partly due to the party's migration policy. The party's leadership has also resigned after poor public opinion figures. Özdemir himself highlights that if these problems are not addressed, AFD risks taking advantage of the situation.