Berlin - The lack of cooperation of Muslim communities with the security authorities remains a weak point of the fight against terrorism in Germany. Six years after the attacks on 11 September 2001, according to a survey of the news agency ddp in all federal laender, the authorities can hardly count on active support from Muslim communities.
In 2007, they have received practically no specific information on "radicalized fellow believers, on recruiters of terrorist organizations, or on planned attacks."
In response to the key question of whether they had active help this year in the form of tips from Muslim communities, the answer was almost entirely a clear no. It was reported from Lower Saxony that there had been isolated tips on radicalization. In Hessen, there was reserved talk of "slight tendencies towards openness.
" In three laender, the authorities did not want to give any information. These laender had declared in previous ddp-inquiries that they had not received any corresponding tips in the past years. In addition to the obvious attempt not to offend the Muslim communities, some answers showed a certain lack of understanding for the missing cooperation. From Bavaria, for example, it was reported that the "Bavarian Office for Constitutional Protection has still not received any tips from Muslims despite appeals in the Internet and a special contact telephone set up for this purpose."
The security experts in Berlin had similar experiences. In the past there, an anonymous telephone had not yielded any tangible results. In response to the question of whether it has received any tips, the Senate Interior Administration answered simply: "No." Hamburg's interior authority pointed out that the situation had not changed since the last surveys.
Accordingly, no corresponding tips had been received in the Hanseatic city. Experts there assess the access to Muslim communities as "extremely difficult." In response to the question of new tendencies in cooperation between Muslims and security authorities, it was generally said that the authorities are trying to establish a basis for trust. For example, the police in Baden-Wuerttemberg have named permanent contacts for the Muslim communities. In Berlin, it was said that the cooperation had definitely changed since 11 September 2001.
Accordingly, on the part of the Muslims, there is great interest "in not having their faith come under general suspicion." Apart from the fight against terrorism, there have obviously been some changes in Berlin and in other laender. In the capital city, it was said that Muslim communities would become involved in various bodies. Next year a continuing education series is supposed to increase the socio-political competence of imams. Identical inquiries of the news agency ddp in past years had yielded the same results for the time after 11 September 2001