"Turkey's EU bid highlights Muslim tensions in Europe 14/12/2004
Turkey's bid to become the first predominantly Muslim country to gain membership of the European Union has sparked a wider debate about integrating immigrants into European countries. Nowhere has that debate been more intense than in the Netherlands, where a 26-year-old Muslim has been arrested and charged with killing controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November. The brutal killing of the man whose films were openly critical of the Islamic faith sparked a short-lived but violent series of attacks on mosques and Islamic schools and led to cracks appearing in the traditionally liberal Dutch approach to immigration. Ninety percent of respondents to one survey a week after the murder said they felt less tolerant than before and 80 percent said the Netherlands should tighten its policy on immigration. The Dutch government however backs Turkey's membership bid and Foreign Minister Ben Bot has said it is 'realistic' to expect Turkey to become a full member by 2015. "
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