Czech Muslims want to talk with Wilders

Czech Muslim organisation Libertas Independent Agency is planning to invite MP Geert Wilders to show his short anti-Islam film Fitna and discuss its message with members, news agency ANP reports on Wednesday.


The agency says earlier this week other Czech political parties rejected a proposed invitation to Wilders from the ruling centre right Civic Democratic Party.
But Libertas spokesman Lukas Lhotan told ANP showing the film and an open discussion is the best way to tackle anti-Islam sentiment. ‘We have seen what happens when prejudices are ignored, as anti-Semitism was ignored in the 20th century,’ he told ANP.
Turkish visit
Meanwhile, there is confusion about a planned visit by an all-party group of MPs to Turkey in January. A Turkish newspaper reported yesterday that Wilders would not be welcome if he joined the group as planned.
And later ANP quoted a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry who said Wilders is a ‘fascist and a racist who is not welcome in Turkey’.
The parliamentary European affairs commission agreed immediately to cancel the visit if Wilders is not allowed to play a full part in the planned talks. However, there is no official word from the Turkish government about any banning order.
Wilders said earlier he planned to use the visit to Turkey to explain why he is totally opposed to Turkish membership of the EU.
In an article in the Volkskrant earlier this month Wilders said no Muslim country should be a member of the EU. Any ‘more importation of that backward Islamic culture is undesirable,’ he wrote. ‘Western civilisation is so much better than a society based on Islamic imperialism and barbarism.’

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