Christchurch attacker: inspiration from Europe?

The Christchurch attacker apparently visited historic sites of battles between Crusaders and the Ottomans. The manifesto he posted online shortly before the attack also echoes conspiracy theories prevalent in Europe according to which Muslims are seeking to replace the European population. Commentators discuss to what extent Europe bears responsibility for the shootings.

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De Morgen (BE) /

The right must distance itself

For De Morgen the right-wing parties must now take action:

“The situation becomes dangerous when the fight is fought not with words, but with violence. Then you have terror. ... The Christchurch attacks indicate a responsibility on the part of the right wing, just as the earlier attacks [by Islamist terrorists] highlighted a responsibility of the Muslim community. ... No one has to give up their beliefs. But now that it has become clear that some people won't just leave it at racist slogans about white, 'boreal' supremacy there is a need to clearly distance oneself from these braggarts.”

vasarnap.hu (HU) /

Once again Trump and Orbán are the bad guys

Right-wing journalist Gábor Megadja explains his views on the debate about the Christchurch attack on vasarnap.hu:

“If an Islamist carries out a terrorist attack it's an isolated incident and an act of madness. But if the attacker can be described as 'white and Christian' the deed is declared a collective sin of the white and Christian community as a whole. And the true instigator of the attack is quickly identified: again and again the name Donald Trump comes up, or in our case Viktor Orbán. So when the perpetrator is white and Christian the crime - in a strange metaphysical chain reaction - is explained by pointing to who influenced and inspired whom.”

Daily Sabah (TR) /

Far right and far left use same enemy image

In Europe it's not just the far right that is fuelling Islamophobia, Daily Sabah points out:

“Right and left extremists are on the same page when it comes to not allowing Turkey to become an EU member. They spread hostility toward Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan together. When it comes to their view on mosques and Muslims there is no difference. The far-right acts as the Knights Templar and members of the far-left act as enemies of religion, and both oppose Turks and Muslims as a result. For this reason, if we are to fight against Islamophobia and xenophobia in Europe, we should not only battle the far-right we should also deal with the far-left.”