Muslims are part of Germany, but Islam is not: CDU politician

Muslims are a part of Germany, but Islam is not, a senior German politician and close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.

Volker Kauder, of the Christian Democratic Union, was interviewed by local newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung in response to earlier comments by former president Christian Wulff, who asserted that Islam was a part of Germany.

Kauder said the statement, while "well-intentioned", was not factually correct.

"Just so there is no misunderstanding: the Muslims themselves are part of Germany, no question about it."

However, he said, Islam has had no role in shaping Germany "historically and culturally" and so cannot be considered an integral part of the country's culture.

Kauder also argued that, since Islam does not take one homogenous form, it cannot as an entity be said to be part of Germany.

He said that, as a diverse religion, Islam sometimes takes on forms "that we can never accept in Germany".

However, he Kauder warned against excluding Muslims, as he accused far-right populist parties of seeking to do.

"It is, of course, permissible to build mosques with minarets," Kauder said.

His comments came in response to the anti-immigration Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party, which on Sunday approved an election manifesto that would ban minarets and headscarves. 

AfD's endorsement of a headscarf ban was boosted on Monday when a national poll run by YouGov suggested that just over 50 percent of Germans would support a total ban at public schools across the country.

Kauder's CDU party, headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the largest member of Germany's ruling coaliiton, is facing a rise in support for far-right parties like the AfD, which is currently polling at around 14 percent ahead of federal elections in 2017.