German-Turkish Institute Head Sacked for Holocaust Comparison
June 27, 2008
The Essen-based Center for Turkish Studies, which is funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said on Thursday, June 27, that it had decided to dismiss Faruk Sen for the comment and for previous remarks that presented a distorted picture of relations between Turks and Germans in Germany.
Sen had contributed to polarization, rather than integration, the institute's central aim, it said.
Sen, who has led the well-known institute since its founding in 1985, said he would launch a legal appeal.
Speaking to the German daily Tageszeitung from Istanbul, he described the decision as an "overreaction by the executive" in remarks to be published Friday.
More than a month ago, Sen compared discrimination against Turks in Western Europe with the persecution of the Jews by Germany during World War II in an article in the Turkish newspaper Referans.
He subsequently distanced himself from the remarks and apologized.