EUROPEAN y gathering 35 local scholars, experts, and civil society activists specialized in ISLAMOPHOBIA racism and human rights, the fifth edition of theEuropean Islamophobia Report addresses a still timely and politically important issue. All 32 country reports REPORT includedB in this book follow a unique structure that is convenient, first, for comparing countries and, second, for selected readings on a particular topic such as politics, em- 2019 ployment, or education with regard to Islamophobia across Europe. The present report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly ENES BAYRAKLI • FARID HAFEZ (Eds) support the rise of anti-Muslim racism in Europe. This extends from Islamophobic state- ments spread in national media to laws and policies that restrain the fundamental rights of European Muslim citizens and threaten the whole of society. As a result, the European Islamophobia Report 2019 discusses the impact of anti-Muslim racism on human rights, multiculturalism, and the state of law in Europe. This fifth edition of our report highlights how European societies are progressively over- whelmed by the Islamophobic discourse of the “Great Replacement” and other far-right conspiracy theories. The 32 country reports demonstrate how governments and main- stream media participate in reproducing such discourses that put the fundamental rights of millions of European citizens in jeopardy and how one can counteract these developments. This compendium of useful insights and data aims to provide European policy-makers, institutions, and NGOs with recommendations on how to tackle anti-Muslim racism in Europe seriously. EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2019 About SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) is a non-profit research ds) institute based in Turkey dedicated to innovative studies on national, regional and in- ternational issues. SETA is the leading think tank in Turkey and has offices in Ankara, Istanbul, Washington D.C., Berlin and Brussels. The objective of SETA is to produce up-to-date and accurate knowledge and analyses in the fields of politics, economy, and society, and inform policy makers and the public on changing political, economic, social, and cultural conditions. Through research reports, publications, brain storming sessions, conferences and policy recommendations, SETA seeks to guide leaders in government, civil society, and business, and contributes to informed decision making mechanisms. ENES BAYRAKLI • FARID HAFEZ (E 9 786257 040525 ANKARA • ISTANBUL • WASHINGTON D.C. • BERLIN • BRUSSELS EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2019 ENES BAYRAKLI • FARID HAFEZ (Eds) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN: 978-625-7040-52-5 COPYRIGHT © 2020 by SETA First Published in 2020 Cover and Layout: Erkan Söğüt Proofreading: Dr. Eva Stamoulou Oral Printed in Turkey, İstanbul by Turkuvaz Haberleşme ve Yayıncılık A.Ş., SETA | FOUNDATION FOR POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH Nenehatun Caddesi No: 66 GOP Çankaya 06700 Ankara TÜRKİYE Phone:+90 312.551 21 00 | Fax :+90 312.551 21 90 www.setav.org | [email protected] | @setavakfi SETA | İstanbul Defterdar Mh. Savaklar Cd. Ayvansaray Kavşağı No: 41-43 Eyüpsultan İstanbul TÜRKİYE Phone: +90 212 315 11 00 | Fax: +90 212 315 11 11 SETA | Washington D.C. 1025 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 1106 Washington, D.C., 20036 USA Phone: 202-223-9885 | Fax: 202-223-6099 www.setadc.org | [email protected] | @setadc SETA | Berlin Französische Straße 12, 10117 Berlin Germany Phone: +49 30 20188466 SETA | Brussels Avenue des Arts 27, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgique Tel: +3226520486 ABOUT EDITORS Enes Bayraklı Mr. Bayraklı earned his BA, MA and PhD from the Department of Political Sci- ence at the University of Vienna, and conducted research for his PhD thesis at the University of Nottingham in Britain between 2009 and 2010. He took office as a deputy director at Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in London in 2011-2013. Mr. Bayraklı also served as the founding director of Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centers in Constanta and Bucharest during the period of August-December 2012. Mr. Bayraklı has been a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the Turkish-German University since 2013. His fields of research include the Trans- formation of Turkish Foreign Policy, Cultural Diplomacy, Foreign Policy Analysis, German Politics and Foreign Policy. [email protected] Farid Hafez Farid Hafez, PhD (Political Science, University of Vienna), is a political scientist and non-resident senior researcher at Georgetown University’s “The Bridge Initiative” at the School of Foreign Service. He defended his habilitation thesis on “Islam Politics in the Second Republic of Austria” at the University of Salzburg in 2019. In 2017, he was a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and in 2014, he was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York. Since 2010, he has been the editor of the Islamophobia Studies Yearbook, and since 2015 the co-editor of the European Islamophobia Report. Hafez has received the Bruno Kreisky Award for the “Political Book of the Year” for his anthology Islamophobia in Austria (co-edited with John Bunzl). He has more than 100 publications in leading journals such as Politics and Religion, Patterns of Prejudice, and German Politics and Society. His latest publications are Islamophobia in Muslim Majority Societies (Routledge, co-edited with Enes Bayrakli, 2019) and Feindbild Islam. Über die Salonfähigkeit von Rassismus (Islam- ophobia. On the Acceptance of Racism. Bohlau, 2019). Email: [email protected] For more information about the EIR: www.islamophobiaeurope.com [email protected] ISLAMOPHOBIA IN AUSTRIA • ISLAMOPHOBIA IN AUSTRIA NATIONAL REPORT 2019 FARID HAFEZ islamophobiaeurope.com • @islamophobiaEIR 79 EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2019 • 80 setav.org ISLAMOPHOBIA IN AUSTRIA Farid Hafez, PhD (Political Science, University of Vienna), is a political scientist and non-resident senior researcher at Georgetown University’s “The Bridge Initia- tive” at the School of Foreign Service. He defended his habilitation thesis on “Islam Politics in the Second Republic of Austria” at the University of Salzburg in 2019. In 2017, he was a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and in 2014, he was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York. Since 2010, he has been the editor of the Islamophobia Studies Yearbook, and since 2015 the co-editor of the European Islamophobia Report. Hafez has received the Bruno Kreisky Award for the “Political Book of the Year” for his anthology Islamophobia in Austria (co-edited with John Bunzl). He has more than 100 publications in leading journals such as Politics and Religion, Patterns of Prejudice, and German Politics and Society. His latest publications are Islamophobia in Muslim Majority Societies (Routledge, co-edited with Enes Bayrakli, 2019) and Feindbild Islam. Über die Salonfähigkeit von Rassismus (Islamophobia. On the Acceptance of Racism. Böhlau, 2019). Email: [email protected] Disclaimer: Statements of fact and opinion in the national reports of the European Islamophobia Report are those of the respective authors. They are not the expression of the editors or the funding institutions. No representation, either expressed or im- plied, is made of the accuracy of the material in the national reports. The editors of the European Islamophobia Report cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The reader must make his or her own evaluation of the accuracy and appropriateness of the material. To cite this report: Farid Hafez: Islamophobia in Austria: National Report 2019, in: Enes Bayraklı & Farid Hafez, European Islamophobia Report 2019, Istanbul, SETA, 2020. islamophobiaeurope.com • @islamophobiaEIR 81 EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2019 Executive Summary The NGO Dokustelle documented 1,051 cases of anti-Muslim hate crime, which is nearly twice as many compared to 2018 (540 cases). The far-right government coalition of the ÖVP and FPÖ lasted only to 28 May following the Ibiza gate scan- dal that led to the dismissal of the longtime FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache. This created a public climate that focused primarily on the Ibiza gate and its re- percussions. Also, the subsequent government of experts that took power until the upcoming elections in October 2019 gave a pause to the strong wave of anti-Mus- lim legislation. Nevertheless, the lasting impact of new personnel appointed by the far-right government in the state bureaucracy was evident. For example, the Interior Ministry’s Secret Service (BVT) published a report that for the first time named the Islamic Religious Community (IGGÖ) not as a partner in the fight against Jihadism, but as a problem of extremism. This marks a radical shift in the BVT’s Islam-relat- ed politics. The European Parliament elections that took place on 26 May did not target Muslims as much as in previous years’ elections given the focus on the Ibiza gate. The impact of this was that many of the political projects that affected Muslims were put on the waiting list. The destabilization of the far-right coalition thus had a positive impact, creating a breathing pause in the country. Nevertheless, the ÖVP and the FPÖ both repeated their standard anti-Muslim policy claims