Secret Study points to xenophobia and racism in German army
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Jul 20, IRNA -- A study highlighted the problem of xenophobia and racism in the German army, media reports said Wednesday.
German army recruits of migrant-origin, among them also Turks and Arabs, are increasingly faced with hatred of foreigners and racism, German public broadcaster ARD quoted a confidential study.
Around 12 percent of German soldiers have a migrant background.
Many of the affected recruits who are of Turkish or Arab origin, are dealing with daily racial insults.
The racial and xenophobic incidents have occured mainly during basic army training and focus mostly on lower ranking soldiers who are serving in former Communist East Germany where neo-Nazi ideology is reportedly on the rise.
East Germany has repeatedly been the scene of deadly xenophobic attacks in recent years.
German Muslim soldiers are also at times 'tricked' into eating pork which is un-Islamic, according to the report.
There is also a shortage of Muslim clerics in the German army.
Meanwhile, the German defense ministry acknowledged the existence of the problems in the military and vowed to tackle them.
The German military is dealing with a severe shortage of soldiers and has made stepped up efforts to recruit among the country's migrant community.
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