23rd Karlsruhe Dialogues - Speakers

Morning Panel Discussion: Europe‘s Responsibility – Democracies between Rule of Law and Populism

 

Tuba Sarica

Speaker

Tuba Sarica was born in Gummersbach in 1987, where she also grew up. Searching for ways of expressing her interest in the political theme of integration, she followed her Abitur (higher education entrance qualification) with several years of internships in the field of film and TV. Finally she studied Media Culture Studies at the University of Cologne. During her studies Sarica began a blog (www.weltbewohner.com), in which she publishes texts on the theme of integration. May 2018 saw the publication of her book Ihr Scheinheiligen! Doppelmoral und falsche Toleranz – Die Parallelwelt der Deutschtürken und die Deutschen (2018) (You Hypocrites! Double morals and false tolerance – The parallel world of the German Turks and the Germans). The book became a Spiegel-Bestseller. Since then Sarica has established a high public profile with her views on the German-Turkish parallel society.

 

Statements

1. In your opinion, what aspects of collective life (economy, politics, society) are affected the most by a lack of taking on responsibility?

In my opinion it is, or was, not only society but also elements of the press that most clearly show a lack of will to take on responsibility. In recent years, I think, the German press community has failed to recognise the danger of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s influence on the German-Turkish parallel society in Germany early enough, and hence has not fulfilled its ‘watchdog function’. In this way it has helped the German-Turkish parallel society, which is essentially anti-democratic, to grow in size.

 

2. Do you see a continuing trend that democratic majorities increasingly often vote against our values of a tolerant society? If so, how does one respond to it?

I believe and hope that the discontent with democracy is a temporary trend that has already passed its peak. This however depends on the start of a genuine, honest dialogue to be conducted in politics and in society about the Muslim world in Germany and Europe.