The identity debate started by the President of France, Sarkozy still echoes. The right wing party “Le Pen” with racist tendencies argued the identity crisis in France when Sarkozy won the elections with a huge support from the society. However, Sarkozy put this issue aside by ending the debate (probably) as an election strategy. In the same France, Sarkozy who put an end to this debate before, advised the immigrants to “go back to their countries by taking their compensations” just after the elections. And now Sakozy’s policy, based on immigrants and foreigners, is widely supported in today’s Europe that experiences economic hardships. 

 

Also in Germany the racist parties’ regaining power and the oppressions of immigrants have been felt more. According to the European academicians, that the oppressions against the working class immigrants are frequently mentioned and the suggestions of the immigrant members of the European Parliament are not welcomed and even ignored are clear evidences of the transition of Europe, based on Germany-France strategic partnership, from democracy to oligarchy. 

Many years ago, Aristotle argued that the democracy will turn into oligarchy and added that after some time democratic societies will be oligarchic. That is why, the masses of people in the two prominent states in Europe where the literacy rate and the rate of people who have secondary education have been increasing, France and Germany, claim that their votes and the votes of immigrants whom they consider ignorant and uncivilized could not be compared. On the other hand it is very usual that their inclination to call the immigrants as “the others” has been felt strongly in the last ten years in which there has been a decline in economic welfare and Euro has followed an unexpected route. While it can be understood that this can happen in a society that is authoritarian and intolerant to the others such as the German society, the outbreak of these inclinations in the French society can only be explained with the facts that the society has economic problems and “the other” policy of America that it pursued in the world except the WASP world has been influential in the EU. 

This period obscured by Sarkozy, who handles the immigration issue as a migration of tribes, can cause the immigrants’ not to see Europe as a center of attraction any more in the future. On the other hand, as Emmanuel Todd argues with his argument of “way to oligarchy”, the Middle East and the Asia that had democratization problems in the past might be a center of attraction in the future for the ones who search for democracy.

 

While building the future’s Europe, France and Germany-naturally the EU- as long as they continue to act in accordance with the 9/11 taboo, the future’s Europe, as some Europeans say, will surrender to medieval darkness. And in the future, the Middle East, particularly Turkey and its surroundings, will become a huge center of attraction for the ones in pursuit of justice and human rights. The more the EU keeps “othering” the people it attracts, the more Istanbul will gain momentum. 

 

Hüseyin Beheşti, Assistant