Young people nickname him “HTP” or “PierHot”. In a few years, the working-class district of Hautepierre, to the west of the historic center of Strasbourg, has changed its face: it has become one of the symbolic places of the Turkish establishment in Alsatian soil. The former training center of the Post Office has hosted since 2015 the Yunus-Emre school group, the first private Muslim establishment in the region; 122 middle school and 83 high school students follow the National Education program, enriched with religious teachings, Muslim ethics and culture. The success rate for the bac reached 100% and 57 former students continued their studies at the faculty of Strasbourg.
“As for other religions, there was a real need for accompaniment in a family setting and in respect of Muslim values, underlines Murat Ercan, the director. Young girls can wear the veil if they wish.” Yunus-Emre reports to the Ditib Strasbourg, which represents the Turkish direction of religious affairs, the Diyanet. This structure, located next to the establishment, has eaten away in a few years. A totally fortuitous expansion, according to Murat Ercan, also a member of the Ditib: “We are reducing our action to Erdogan’s Turkey and we are suspected of being an instrument of soft power while these political considerations are light years away from our concerns. “
In the same group, the Strasbourg Diyanet Akademi hosts working seminars bringing together other Ditibs from all over Europe. The funds drawn from this activity make it possible to finance projects, such as the creation of a free faculty of theology, for the moment suspended. In the meantime, at the end of December, Yunus-Emre submitted to the rectorate an application for authorization of a six-year imam training program, starting from the second class.
At the Meinau, the influence of the Turkish Islamist movement Millî Görüs
In the south of the city, in Meinau, it is the Turkish Islamist movement Millî Görüs which weaves its web. The gigantic Ottoman-style Eyyûb-Sultan Mosque – the largest in Europe – is expected to open within two years. If the site, stopped since the summer of 2019 for lack of funds (the budget is close to 32 million euros), one day resumes. A short distance away, this organization, close to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been piloting the Eyyûb-Sultan private school since 2014, which has just inaugurated a second class. It was also in Meinau that the AKP created its first French branch in 2015.
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Turkish entryism is real and more and more extensive. But there is a network of resistance fighters who refuse to be reduced to Turkishness
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If Strasbourg appears today as the bridgehead of Turkish interests in France and that Ankara has set up its – huge – consulate there, it is not by chance. The concordat regime facilitates religious settlements there. The capital is home to the Council of Europe, co-founded by Turkey, which continues to sit there. Above all, nearly 30,000 Turks and Franco-Turks live here out of a total of 650,000 in France, the largest community in the city. For local elected officials, it is sometimes difficult not to give in to pressure. “We must not believe in these politicians who castigate the Islam of Turkey while also extending a hand to it, warns Samim Akgönül, director of the department of Turkish studies at the University of Strasbourg. Turkish entrism is real and more and more pushed. But there is a network of resistance fighters who refuse to be reduced to Turkishness. “
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A partnership with the city of the former Turkish head of state
The town hall did not pay any subsidy, either for the construction of the great mosque or to the Ditib for the acquisition of the land of Hautepierre (15 million euros financed by private Turkish funds). But it nevertheless allowed the change of use of the land use plan, and found an arrangement with the hotelier who opposed the sale. In 2010, after a stormy city council, a partnership was forged between the town and the city of Kayseri, a conservative stronghold from which the former AKP leader and former Turkish head of state Abdullah Gül comes. “The pressure was very strong,” recalls one of the participants.
AKP supporter, Saban Kiper was at the time a socialist municipal councilor, recruited by Roland Ries, the former mayor of Strasbourg. He is now in charge of public relations for Ditib and a member of the Council for Justice, Equality and Peace (Cojep). This organization close to Turkish power was founded in the 1980s in the working-class neighborhoods of Belfort, under the aegis of Jean-Pierre Chevènement. These “big brothers” have since invested several political parties, from the Greens to the right. “Once elected, they conducted a policy so favorable to Ankara that they were dismissed,” said a local source.
In 2015, several members of the Cojep had founded the Equality and Justice Party (PEJ), which has since dissolved itself. Head of the list in the partial legislative elections of 2017, Murat Yozgat is a former AKP executive in Alsace and former development manager of the Union of European Turkish Democrats. Sati Arik, substitute candidate in the 2nd district of Bas-Rhin, is an expert in international relations at Cojep International. In the 2014 municipal elections, Tuncer Saglamer, also a member of the Cojep, led the list of the citizens’ movement in Strasbourg. None of them had been elected, but their list recorded double-digit scores in disadvantaged areas.
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