LE FIGARO.
- The Eyyub Sultan Mosque in Strasbourg is announced as the largest in Europe, for a total cost of 32 million euros.
Should this be seen as a manifestation of Turkey's "soft power" in France?
Jean-François COLOSIMO.
-
This is objectively the case.
The population of Turkish and Sunni origin represents the first Muslim component within the European Union.
It is massive in Germany and predominant among Muslims in Alsace.
President Erdogan wants to constitute it as an electoral reserve, a lever of influence and a means of pressure.
Considering that
"assimilation is a crime against humanity"
(sic), he has two instruments to capture it for his benefit.
As a diplomatic weapon, it has the Diyanet, the sprawling ministerial office of worship with its 2 billion euros annual budget and its 120,000 imam-civil servants dispatched if necessary abroad.
As a militant vector, he has the Millî Görüs, the missionary movement founded by his mentor
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