Several weeks after his controversial photo shoot with Turkish President Erdoğan, Germany international football player Mesut Özil has broken his silence. In the aftermath of an early exit from the World Cup, it had above all been Özil who had been blamed for the team’s poor performance. The racially charged recriminations against Özil mostly focused…
Austria has long been among the fore-runners of the right-wing populist wave in Europe. Since late 2017, the country has been ruled by a government bringing together the traditional conservatives of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ). Led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, this coalition heralds the final arrival of the…
On June 24, 50 bicycle tandems, composed of Jews and Muslims, made their way from Berlin’s central Holocaust memorial, located next to the Brandenburg Gate, to Bebelplatz – a square in front of Humboldt University where the Nazi regime had organised the burning of 20.000 books in 1933.1 The Jewish-Muslim ride sought to send a…
Germany’s early exit from the football World Cup was met with considerable surprise in the sports world. Having been expected to progress far in the tournament, the defending champions were knocked out already at the end of the group stage, after a string of poor performances against Mexico, Sweden, and South Korea. ‘There once was…
The Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections have, on balance, handed President Erdoğan the victory he had hoped for – a victory that had looked in jeopardy in the run-up to election day. Most importantly, the Turkish leader managed to retain the Presidency, winning an absolute majority of 52.6 per cent in the first round.1 Importance…
