Peter Schneider at the New York Times describes the sick pathology of radical Islamism thriving in Germany’s inner cities, including her capital:
On the night of Feb. 7, 2005, Hatun Surucu, 23, was killed on her way to a bus stop in Berlin-Tempelhof by several shots to the head and upper body, fired at point-blank range… Now three of her five brothers are on trial for murder. According to the prosecutor, the oldest of them (25) acquired the weapon, the middle brother (24) lured his sister to the scene of the crime and the youngest (18) shot her…
Hatun Surucu grew up in Berlin as the daughter of Turkish Kurds. When she finished eighth grade, her parents took her out of school. Shortly after that she was taken to Turkey and married to a cousin. Later she separated from her husband and returned to Berlin, pregnant. At age 17 she gave birth to a son, Can… Evidently, in the eyes of her brothers, Hatun Surucu’s capital crime was that, living in Germany, she had begun living like a German.
It’s still unclear whether anyone ordered her murdered. Often in such cases it is the father of the family who decides about the punishment. But Seyran Ates has seen in her legal practice cases in which the mother has a leading role: mothers who were forced to marry forcing the same fate on their daughters. Necla Kelek, a Turkish-German author who has interviewed dozens of women on this topic, explained, “The mothers are looking for solidarity by demanding that their daughters submit to the same hardship and suffering.” By disobeying them, the daughter calls into question her mother’s life – her silent submission to the ritual of forced marriage. Meanwhile, the two elder brothers have papered their cell with pictures of their dead sister.
There are two specific things that demand attention. The first is of cause the sick dynamic by which abused Muslim men and women, to justify living their own unbearable lives, force their sons and daughters into the same life (Judith Weiss refers to it as Radical Islam being an abusive father and husband). The second is the somewhat subtle and perceptive realization that what is at stake is preventing assimilation – that the mechanisms that have developed in these inner cities – the honor killings, the muted responses from friends and family, the local language media which justify them – are designed to perpetuate a very particular and primitive way of life. Together, these are the two aspects – one psychological, one social – combine to create a grinding existence which, day after day, prevents the integration of immigrants. Radical Islamism is not being primarily driven by a failed welfare state or discrimination or unemployment, but rather by these quotidian mechanisms that are hard to pick out and treat in isolation but that together have combined into a time-bomb ticking away in the heart of Old Europe.
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