Mgr. Robert Zollitsch, the new president of the German Bishops Conference (Dbk), warned against parallel societies. In an interview with the Catholic press agency Kna, Zollitsch took position about the recent statements made by Angela Merkel, who claimed her role as the chancellor of all the people who live in the country, in response to some statements made by the Turkish Prime Minister, Erdogan, who was visiting Cologne. "People wanting to live here must definitely fit in, without having to forget their language. They must identify with this society and make their contribution to its development", said Zollitsch, who stated he "completely agreed" with Merkel. "We too, as a Church, are doing a lot for social inclusion. We work hard to have lessons of Islamic religion in the schools, but in German and with teachers who have been trained here. Parallel societies are always prone to creating conflict and crisis, because they include many people who do not really live in them. Here Muslims are entitled to have mosques. To make up for that, we ask for Churches for the Christians in Turkey and in other Islamic countries. If this is not done, this does not mean we must do the same", commented Zollitsch. ” “
