Articles

EFD Executive Director Alexander Ritzmann explains the different reasons why people believe in extremist ideologies or join extremist groups in an article published by The Parliament Magazine....

EFD Senior Policy Advisor Dr. Demir Murat Seyrek and EPC Policy Analyst Amanda Paul have issued a commentary on the recent developments on EU-Turkey relations....

In this article for Deutsche Welle, EFD Senior Policy Advisor Demir Murat Seyrek challenges the EU's sincerity with regards to addressing the democratic problems Turkey faces and raises the question of why negotiation chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (justice, freedom and security) of the accession talks are currently still blocked....

In an Op-Ed published by EUobserver, EFD Senior Policy Advisor Dr Demir Murat Seyrek and EPC Senior Policy Analyst Amanda Paul suggest a number of reasons why they advise the EU not to suspend talks with Turkey....

EFD Senior Policy Advisor Demir Murat Seyrek writes for DW Türkçe on the worsening relationship between Turkey and the EU as a result of serious problems in Turkey in terms of fundamental rights and freedoms & Turkish government’s increasingly negative attitude towards the EU....

EFD Senior Policy Advisor Demir Murat Seyrek writes for Deutsche Welle on the negotiation process regarding visa liberalisation between Turkey and the EU, after a deadline for the implementation of visa liberalisation has passed at the end of October....

In this article, EFD Executive Director Alexander Ritzmann highlights that media outlets often involuntarily serve as extended propaganda channels of terrorist organisations....

Following a press briefing held by the European Foundation for Democracy on preventing radicalisation in Italy, with EFD Senior Fellow Dr Valentina Colombo as the main speaker, the Italian news agency Agenzia Giornalistica Italiana (AGI) issued a press release with Colombo's statements....

EFD's latest publication, Jihadist Hotbeds – Understanding Local Radicalisation Processes, is mentioned in a blog post by by Democracy Digest....

EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo writes about the assassination of Nahid Hattar, a Jordanian writer charged with offending Islam after allegedly sharing a satirical cartoon on his Facebook page....

In her latest article on the so-called 'Islamic State' , EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo explains the differences between Dabiq, the magazine used bu IS to spread their ideology all over the world, and Rumiyah, the latest version of the magazine...

In this contribution for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour and co-chair of the German Green party Cem Özdemir claim that the German government is not prepared to tackle radical Islam. Integrating the refugees in Germany is already a gigantic task and it is time to learn from the mistakes that have been made in the past, they urge....

EFD Senior Fellow Dr. Valentina Colombo is mentioned by the well known Italian newspaper Il Giornale....

EFD Senior Fellow Dr. Valentina Colombo writes for the Italian magazine Grazia on the controversial decision of the French authorities to ban 'burkinis', the full bathing suit Muslim women wear on the beach if they want to cover their bodies....

Through the online newspaper Informazione Corretta, EFD Senior Fellow Dr. Valentina Colombo gives a detailed explanation regarding the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Italy....

EFD Senior Fellow Dr. Valentina Colombo is interviewed by Il Giornale di Sicilia on the latest bans imposed by the French authorities on Muslim women wearing 'burkinis'....

EFD Senior Fellow Dr Valentina Colombo expresses her concerns regarding a petition launched and signed by many within the Muslim community in Italy, a petition that Dr. Colombo claims to raise many issues....

EFD Senior Fellow Dr. Valentina Colombo explains that many Quranic verses can be misinterpreted and misleading....

EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo comments on the latest (15th) issue of the Islamic State's propaganda magazine, Dabiq, titled "Break the Cross"....

In this guest contribution for Worldcrunch, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour highlights the connections between recent terror attacks in Germany and what he refers to as an “undemocratic behaviour based on cultural sensitivities”, such as the latest case of an imam denying his son’s teacher a handshake, because she is female....

"When people learn I run a secularist charity, many are confused about what secularism means and its consequences for non-Christians in the UK."...

"The latest terror attack that struck Europe, the first that brutally aimed at killing a priest, but the last of a long series of attacks, must lead us to reflect on what has happened,its root causes, its consequences, the mistakes that were made, which cannot ever be repeated. Two Muslim intellectuals have lodged appeals that go precisely in this direction"....

In this guest contribution for Die Welt, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour talks about the terrorist attack which occurred on a train in Würzburg (Germany) in July 2016. There is no such thing as ‘fast-track’ radicalisation, Mansour argues. The will to commit a terror attack doesn’t simply manifest from one day to another. Radicalisation is a process that is facilitated by certain mindsets which are often deeply rooted in religious beli...

After the military coup attempt that led Turkey into a political turmoil, EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo recommends the Italian government to adopt a harder line with mosques that accept funding from other countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia....

In the aftermath of the Nice attacks of 14 July, EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo expresses her concerns regarding the global dimension the ideologies behind terrorism have acquired....

EFD Fellow Anna Borshchevskaya writes for The Hill on the recent failed coup attempt in Turkey and how this may have helped Russia's president Vladimir Putin....

EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour in a guest contribution for Tagesspiegel, criticises the German Muslim Associations for diminishing the role of religion in extremism. Mansour argues that we must indeed look at the content of certain understandings of Islam, such as literalism or a tabooing of sexuality, which oftentimes act as catalysts for violence....

EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo comments the recent terror attacks which occurred in Nice in the early hours of 15 July....

EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo condemns Italy for not prohibiting Muslim hate preachers from entering Italy....

In this guest contribution for taz, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour comments on the indignation of German left-wing politicians to demand a reform of outdated interpretations of Islam from within the Muslim community. Muslims are capable of accepting criticism when it comes to their religion and must not be handled with kid gloves, Mansour writes....

EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell writes for The Huffington Post about the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sweden....

EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell writes about the influence the Muslim Brotherhood has established in Sweden and other European countries over the years, starting from World War Two....

After the terror attacks occurred in Dhaka, at the Holey Artisan Bakery, EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo writes about the Quran and how it has been instrumentalised to wage a holy war....

EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo writes about the suicide bombings that occurred at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on 28 June....

EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo addresses the perspective of Islamic groups in relation to Brexit....

"Dear Matteo Renzi, My name is Maryan Ismail, I am an Italian citizen of Somali origin, registered as a member of the Democratic Party (PD) (..). I am Muslim, secular and progressive. I consider myself as part of an Islam which, in numbers, represents the majority of Muslims, but that is financially unsupported and therefore unheard of"....