The Swiss have voted in favour of a ban on the building of new minarets. 57.5% of those who turned out to vote expressed the desire to forbid construction of the tall, slender towers that accompany many mosques around the world.
After receiving much criticism from within Europe and abroad, it’s timely to look at the factors that brought about such a result. Since numerous critics characterise the initiative that led to the referendum as populist, is or should there be a movement to reverse the outcome?
Switzerland and its Muslim Population
To believe the stereotype, the rich, landlocked Alpine nation runs like clockwork, produces high-quality goods and still operates a protectionist and secretive banking system. Switzerland is a nation of approximately 8 million, sharing its borders with Austria, France, Germany and Italy, possessing four official national languages and one of the highest living standards in the world.
Muslims account for around 4% of the population or somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 inhabitants, the majority coming from Turkey and the Balkan region. While there are approximately 200 mosques on Swiss territory today, the first minaret was constructed at Zürich’s Amadiyya Mosque in the 1960s and, four decades later, the minarets number just four.
Why Ban Minarets?
The minaret is not a Qur’anic requirement and like bell towers in churches, they are used to call the faithful to prayer. Regardless of religious purpose, the minaret, just like the bell tower, holds a symbolic meaning for both the Muslim and non-Muslim.
The current issue around Swiss minarets began four years ago when a Turkish cultural association requested approval to construct one, encountering immediate community opposition. The communal body responsible for assessing the application was accused of unfairly delaying its process. The Turkish association also claimed that opposition to the minaret was being argued solely on religious grounds.
Eventually, the communal planning authority refused the building application. The Turkish cultural association thus appealed to a higher government department, which overruled the planning body's decision and permitted construction of the 6-metre minaret to proceed. Further legal appeals were launched by opposing voices, however the Federal Supreme Court affirmed the decision to go ahead.
The Swiss People’s Party and the Federal Democratic Union, both socially conservative and the former populist by nature, undertook a joint initiative throughout 2006 to 2008 against minarets. During this time Swiss voters were not called upon to vote as the undertakings were declared unconstitutional.
The Egerkinger committee, an alliance between the two aforementioned parties began collecting the requisite signatures to take the nation to the polling booth, with the goal to amend an article in the Swiss constitution to expressly outlaw the building of minarets. With the required number of signature collected, a referendum was called.
Reactions in Switzerland and Europe
Though the Swiss Federal Council and the Swiss Federal Assembly both stated their position against banning the building of minarets, the majority of voters who used their democratic right were in favour of the ban, attracting approbation from around the world.
While some media commentators see it as ‘a storm in a teacup’, others believe it's symbolic of rising Islamophobia within Europe. France, a country that includes an important Muslim population, passed legislation in 2004 against conspicuous display of religious affiliation within public schools and is watching the post-referendum debate closely. The French president Nicholas Sarkozy has defended the Swiss outcome while Bernard Kouchner, France's foreign minister gently denounced the referendum result and called for it to be reversed.
Turkey, a country both Muslim and secular has produced a number of media articles condemning the result and warning against a supposedly increasing Islamophobia across Europe. However, some Turkish journalists have also pointed out the accountability of Muslims in Europe who need to accept that a negative result is in part due to a moribund Islamic community in Europe that is failing to educate the West.
Can the Referendum Outcome be Reversed?
The Council of Europe has already questioned whether such rights, already protected by international treaties, ought to be subject to popular referendum. Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has voiced her dismay at the result and commented that the ban contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights.
It remains to be seen if the case is taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). There have been a number of cases in which the ECHR ruled that governments could restrict the articles of clothing worn by their citizens and in each case the article of clothing was an Islamic head-covering. Recently the court also challenged the right of Italian public schools to display crucifixes.
The Swiss minaret vote may appear to some as more symbolic than religious. There is certainly going to be further, rigorous debate around Islam, secularism, religious discrimination and national identity in the very near future.
Sources
Le Monde Nicolas Sarkozy : "Respecter ceux qui arrivent, respecter ceux qui accueillent"
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James Heywood - James Heywood has worked in education, banking and finance, hospitality and publishing. He completed his tertiary education in ...
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