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Monday, March 31th, 2008
Nevena Gojković
The rise of mosques becomes catalyst for conflict across
Europe
A minaret planned for a Swiss village has prompted the latest of several disputes over new places
of worship
• Ian Traynor in Wangen, Switzerland
• The Guardian,
• Thursday October 11 2007
• Article history
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This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday October 11 2007 on p23 of the International
section. It was last updated at 02:19 on October 11 2007.
A protest against plans to build a mosque in Cologne, Germany. Photograph: Henning Kaiser/AFP
North of Berne in an idyllic Alpine valley cowbells tinkle, a church steeple rises, and
windowboxes tumble with geraniums. It has always been like this.
But down by the railway station the 21st century is rudely intruding and the villagers of Wangen
are upset.
"It's the noise, and all the cars. You should see it on a Friday night," complains Roland Kissling, a
perfume buyer for a local cosmetics company. "I've got nothing against mosques, or even against
minarets. But in the city. Not in this village. It's just not right. There's going to be trouble."
The target of Mr Kissling's ire is a nondescript house belonging to the region's Turkish immigrant
community. The basement is a prayer room where hundreds of Muslims gather every week for
Friday rites.
And in a case that has gone all the way to Switzerland's supreme court, setting a keenly watched
precedent, the Turks of Wangen have just won the right to erect a six-metre-high minaret.
"We'll build it by next year. We're still deciding what colour and what material," says Mustafa
Karahan, the sole person authorised to speak for Wangen's Turkish Cultural Association. "We
don't have any problems. It's the other side that has the problems. We're not saying anything else
until the minaret is built."