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Hakan Akyol on religious discrimination

Hakan Akyol.

Hakan Akyol analyses the issues in religious discrimination

Created:

unknown

Date Added:

10 March 2009

Source:

source not available

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

8.3 MB

Length:

03min11sec

Transcript

Akyol:

00:10

... the Turkish community it is one of the – predominantly an Islamic community in terms of background and practise, it has a relatively speaking integrated or settled in different ways, but having said that there are considerable issues obviously in terms of having a significant proportion working in the sort of manufacturing industry, repetitive work etcetera, so there’s injuries, physical health issues, etcetera.

00:43

It’s a relatively ageing populations, discrimination no more than say in other communities, but a sense that they’ve done well individually but that they’ve also put in a lot of hard work as well, whether it’s in factories and so forth. It is as I said, in the context of the global debate and anti sort of terror laws etcetera, again within that context, although the Turkish community hasn’t been as identified as much as say, the Arabic speaking community but have felt that some of the issues and the focus has not been fair.

01:40

I mean, essentially they see that as not necessarily being true to Islam as well, or in their interpretations of Islam in the sense of, you know, violence and terror, they don’t see that that is consistent with their perspectives of what Islam is about. And the attention on a handful of sort of, stronger radical voices that have sort of, come out they also put that down to – the sort of – amazed at why they get so much attention when they represent such a small component or a – in some cases an individual or maybe a very small for want of a better word, congregation relative to the broader population.

02:32

It –whether it’s Turkish or Islamic community that the vast majority are you know, including those who are, you know, quite religious, go to Friday prayers, involved with various activities in the Islamic associations, the vast majority are essentially want a better life for their children, want to contribute and have a happy and safe community here.

03:06

They feel that when those issues of, you know, attacks on Islam or criticisms of Islam or the section of Islam that is a violent sort of religion, is unfair and not consistent with a vast majority of those who practise their faith.

03:24

End transcript