German Muslims rebuke ministers before Islam summit

BERLIN, Apr 30 (Reuters) A row between the government and a leading German Islamic group has erupted two days before the Interior Ministry hosts a high-profile summit to boost the integration of the country's 3.2 million Muslims.

Some Muslims, who want their associations to have equal status to German church communities, feel aggrieved that ministers have dismissed their efforts at greater coordination.

Earlier this month four leading groups set up a Coordination Council of Muslims in Germany (KRM), partly in response to government complaints that the fragmented nature of Germany's Islamic groups made it difficult to discuss integration.

But the government has been reserved in its support, saying it represents only a fraction of the country's Muslims.

''(Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble) has relativised the Coordination Council of Muslims and talked it down,'' Aiman Mazyek, general secretary of the Central Committee of Muslims, part of the KRM, told Monday's Westdeutsche Zeitung.

''I notice a lack of seriousness in this debate, I see a lack of good will,'' he added.

The KRM says it represents 2,000 of the country's 2,500 mosque communities but the government says only a small proportion of German Muslims belong to mosques.

About 2.5 million of the country's Muslims are of Turkish origin, many of whom are not organised into religious groupings.

''The KRM represents some 10 per cent of Muslims. It can't claim to represent the interests of all Muslims,'' Integration Commissioner Maria Boehmer told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

Boehmer also attacked one the KRM's first demands -- that boys and girls be separated for sports lessons.

''This is anything but an auspicious start,'' she said.

The row highlights the sensitivities involved in tackling issues to be raised at Wednesday's conference, such as religion lessons, imam training and Islamophobia in Germany, home to western Europe's second-biggest Muslim population after France.

The government is playing down expectations for the conference, a three-year project in which ministers meet every six months to discuss a range of subjects with Muslim delegates.

Working groups, set up last September, will report back on some issues, but no conclusions are expected.

''This is a gradual, step-by-step process. This meeting is not be the end point,'' said an Interior Ministry spokesman.

Top of the list for some Muslims is for Islam to get equal legal status to other religions in Germany, including churches which are partly funded by taxes.

The government, worried about the spread of radicalism among disillusioned young Muslims, has ruled out equal status for now.

''The recognition of Islam is not an arbitrary act of grace,'' said the ministry spokesman. ''To be recognised, they need a structure and a statute which fulfils certain conditions.'' The government argues German Muslims have diverse beliefs and practices and there is still no body equivalent to Christian churches which have clear structures and some elected officials.

''I get the impression the question of recognition scares the living daylights out of them,'' Mazyek said.

Reuters SS GC1800