09 April 2010

Erdogan urges Turks in France to integrate, not assimilate

Integrate into a society by learning its language and becoming involved in its social life but never assimilate, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said while addressing the Turkish community in Paris. .... Met with great applause when he stepped onto the stage, Erdogan talked about the rise of Turkey and urged the French Turks to become better represented in the economic, political and social life of the country they are living in.

Stressing that assimilation is different from integration, Erdogan said no one can demand that a person assimilate. “The demand to assimilate is a crime against humanity,” he said. “No one can ask you to abandon your values, your culture.” [Today's Zaman] Read more [via Islam in Europe]