The government of Austria is closing 7 mosques and could expel up to dozen imams.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz,31, at a press briefing on Friday, said the government is shutting down a Turkish mosque and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community, which runs six mosques.
The Austrian government’s actions stem from a 2015 law, which bans foreign funding of religious groups and required Muslim societies to have “a positive fundamental view towards (Austria’s) state and society”.
“Parallel societies, political Islam and tendencies toward radicalization have no place in our country,” Kurz said.
Austria is home to an estimated 600,000 Muslims, mostly of Turkish origin.
Culture Minister Gernot Blumel said the Turkish mosque was shut down because of suspected right-wing “extremism” and because the Austrian Islamic Faith Community had not licensed it.
The Arab mosques were accused of preaching Salafi positions and would, therefore, be shuttered, Blumel said. Salafism is a school of theology based on a strict and literal interpretation of Islam.
However, Turkey has condemned Austria’s action, calling it “anti-Islam” and “racist”.
“Austria’s decision to close down seven mosques and deport imams with a lame excuse is a reflection of the anti-Islam, racist and discriminatory populist wave in this country,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter.
