y gathering 39 local scholars, experts, and civil society activists specialized in racism and human rights, the fourth edition of the European Islamophobia Report addresses a still timely and politically important issue. All 34 country Breports included in this book follow a unique structure that is convenient, first, for com- EUROPEAN paring country reports and, second, for selected readings on a particular topic such as politics, employment, or education with regards to Islamophobia across Europe. ISLAMOPHOBIA The present report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly 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 REPORT of European Muslim citizens. As a result, the European Islamophobia Report 2018 dis- cusses the impact of anti-Muslim discourse on human rights, multiculturalism, and the 2018 state of law in Europe. This fourth edition of our report highlights how European societies are challenged by the ENES BAYRAKLI • FARID HAFEZ (Eds) rise of violent far-right groups that do not only preach hatred of Muslims but also partici- pate in the organization of bloody terror attacks. The rise of far-right terrorist groups such as AFO (Action of Operational Forces) in France or the network Hannibal in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland confirms EUROPOL’s alarming surveys on the growing danger of right-wing terrorism. This year, SETA worked in cooperation with the Leopold Weiss Institute, an Austrian NGO based in Vienna dedicated to the research of Muslims in Europe. In addition, the Euro- pean Union has funded the European Islamophobia Report 2018 through the program EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2018 “Civil Society Dialogue Between EU and Turkey (CSD-V)”. ds) About SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) is a non-profit research institute based in Turkey dedicated to innovative studies on national, regional and interna- tional issues. SETA is the leading think tank in Turkey and has offices in Ankara, Istanbul, Washington D.C. and Cairo. The objective of SETA is to produce up-to-date and accu- rate 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 condi- tions. 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 ANKARA • ISTANBUL • WASHINGTON D.C. • CAIRO • BERLIN • BRUSSELS EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2018 ENES BAYRAKLI • FARID HAFEZ (Eds) This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors of the national reports; and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and and Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Directorate for EU Affairs. COPYRIGHT © 2019 by SETA 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: XX First Published in 2019 Cover: Erkan Söğüt Proofreading: Dr. Eva Stamoulou Oral 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 | Cairo 21 Fahmi Street Bab al Luq Abdeen Flat No 19 Cairo EGYPT Phone: 00202 279 56866 | 00202 279 56985 | @setakahire SETA | Berlin Französische Straße 12, 10117 Berlin GERMANY Phone: +49 30 20188466 SETA | Brussels Avenue des Arts 27, 1000 Bruxelles, BELGIQUE www.setav.org/en | [email protected] ABOUT EDITORS Enes Bayraklı Enes Bayraklı earned his BA, MA and PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna, and conducted research for his PhD thesis at the Uni- versity of Nottingham in Britain between 2009 and 2010. He was a deputy director at the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in London in 2011-2013. Bayraklı also served as the founding director of the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centers in Con- stanta and Bucharest, Romania in August-December 2012. He has been a faculty member at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Turkish-German University since 2013. Currently he is also the coordinator of SETA Brussels office and director of European Studies at SETA Foundation. His fields of- re search include Islamophobia in Europe, far-right movements in Europe, the transfor- mation of Turkish foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, and German foreign policy. Farid Hafez Farid Hafez, PhD (Political Science, University of Vienna), is currently lecturer and researcher at the University of Salzburg, Department of Political Science and So- ciology and 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 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 Islamophobia Studies Yearbook, and since 2016 the co-editor of 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 80 publications in leading journals such as Politics and Religion, Patterns of Prejudice, and German Politics and Society. His latest publica- tions are Islamophobia in Muslim Majority Societies (Routledge, co-edited with Enes Bayrakli) and Feindbild Islam. Über die Salonfähigkeit von Rassismus (Böhlau). For more information about the EIR: www.islamophobiaeurope.com [email protected] ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FINLAND ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FINLAND NATIONAL REPORT 2018 ENRIQUE TESSIERI islamophobiaeurope.com • @islamophobiaEIR 295 EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2018 296 setav.org ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FINLAND The Author Enrique Tessieri is a sociologist and former journalist who has written and re- searched immigration topics. As a journalist, Tessieri worked in countries like Fin- land, Spain, Italy, Argentina, and Colombia writing on topics such as human rights and foreign investment. Tessieri is editor of Migrant Tales, a community blog he founded in 2007. He is, among others, a board member of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) (2016-2019), and chairperson of the Anti-Hate Crime Or- ganisation Finland. He works at Otava Folk High School near the city of Mikkeli and works as an advisor for the master in conflictology programme of the Open University of Catalonia. 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 and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Directorate for EU Affairs. To cite this report: Enrique Tessieri: Islamophobia in Finland: National Report 2018, in: Enes Bayraklı & Farid Hafez, European Islamophobia Report 2018, Istanbul, SETA, pp. 295-318. islamophobiaeurope.com • @islamophobiaEIR 297 EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2018 Executive Summary A number of studies, surveys, and news in 2018 tell us that Islamophobia continues to be widespread in Finland. One of these surveys published in May by the Pew Research Centre, revealed that almost two-thirds (62%) of those surveyed felt that Islam is incompatible with the culture and values of Finland. The knife attack in August 2017 by a Moroccan asylum seeker, continued to impact the Muslim com- munity negatively. Last year’s hate crime report, published by the Finnish Police Uni- versity College, confirms that Muslims and Afghans were the most frequent victims. Other factors that have fuelled anti-Muslim sentiment is the entry of 32,476 mostly Iraqi and Afghan asylum seekers to the country. The Muslim community was also impacted by sexual assault cases in Oulu by suspected people of Muslim origin. A case in point is the city of Kemi, located about 100 kilometres north of Oulu, where the small Iraqi community, numbering between 50 and 70, alleges that they are too scared to leave their homes alone in the evening. Kemi is also the founding home of the far right vigilante group, the Soldiers of Odin. A Red Cross official told asylum seekers two years ago not to leave their homes on Saturdays after 8 p.m. After the Christchurch attack on March 15, the Islamic Society of Northern Finland of Oulu, decided to place guards from their congregation outside the mosque during Friday prayers since the police would not grant such projection. Despite these matters, there have been some positive developments. In October, the former editor of Islamophobic news portal MV-lehti Ilja Janitskin was sentenced to a 22-month prison term and forced to pay compensation for fake news, copyright infringement, racist harassment, and defamation. Another important matter that will impact anti-racism positively is a decision by the Turku appeal court to uphold an earlier court decision to ban the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL) and Pohjoinen Perinne, the fund-raising arm of the neo-Nazi group. Moreover, the National Board of Education has taken steps to combat hate speech by tackling so- cial exclusion at schools. Even so, the jury is still out on how effective these measures are in tackling the ever-rising Islamophobia.