German minister questions Islam's place in the country
Germany's new interior minister said Friday he doesn't consider Islam to be a part of Germany, a position that puts him at odds with Chancellor Angela Merkel on the central question of migration.
Horst Seehofer, the country's top security official, told the Bild newspaper that "Islam doesn't belong to Germany," but added that "the Muslims who live with us are, of course, part of Germany."
Seehofer said his message to Muslims was: "Live with us, not parallel to or against us."
His Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, which has always taken a harder line on migration than Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union, faces a state election later this year. The anti-Islam Alternative for Germany party is relatively strong in Bavaria and some of its lawmakers welcomed his comments.
