In the research conducted to measure the reactions to Muslim immigrants in Europe, local people were asked whether they would accept Muslims as neighbors and it was seen that Eastern European countries were more harsh and reactive than Western Europe.
The conflicts and geopolitical changes that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union caused political and economic problems in the region, and the people in the Eastern European region saw immigrants as an obstacle to reaching their needs.
Unemployment has increased and people have fallen into a situation where they cannot reach their basic needs, and anger and hatred has emerged against immigrants who find employment opportunities on equal terms.
In the research conducted to measure the reaction of the people against immigrants, it is seen that the people in Eastern European countries are more harsh towards Muslim immigrants, but the anti-Islamism triggered after September 11 is increasing in Western Europe and Muslims face similar problems in the West.
The fact that European politicians associate Muslims with terrorism and their racist rhetoric and provocative approach have a great impact on the hostility and hatred of the locals towards immigrants.
You may remember that Josep Borrell Fontelles, one of the most authoritative figures of US foreign policy, made the following speech at the opening of the Diplomacy Academy, which was established to train future EU diplomats:
“Europe is a garden. We built the garden. Everything works here, it is the best ingredient of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that humanity can build. Most of the rest of the world is jungle, and the jungle can invade the garden.”
This statement of Borrell actually points out what the classical Western mentality's point of view regarding colonized societies is. This mentality, which is the right of the children they orphaned in every bite that enters their crops, sees themselves as the stronghold of civilization, branding the societies they exploit their resources as uncivilized and wild, and they explain their morbid thoughts with the metaphor of the garden-forest.
The person who compares the people coming from the east, north and south, Turks and Arabs to the jungle and sees them as danger, actually represents a mentality and provokes the people.
This approach reveals the difference between the view of people and events between the East, which takes its color from spirituality, and the West, which is nourished by Greek civilization. The children of a civilization that sees serving the captives as a form of worship are being tested by a brutal force that attacks them with racist rhetoric, isn't it sad?