<p>As Germany prepares for pivotal state elections, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere has suggested banning the full-face burqa worn by some Muslim women. ;</p>
<p>The nation ;has erupted into a fierce debate on &ldquo;integration&rdquo; as it struggles to accommodate more than 1 million refugees and migrants &ndash; most of them from predominantly Muslim countries. ;The minister, one of Chancellor Merkel&rsquo;s closes allies, explains that the burqa simply &ldquo;does not belong in our cosmopolitan country;&rdquo; it is &ldquo;not a security issue but an integration issue.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>The ban is a &ldquo;preventive measure,&rdquo; he continues, adding that the full-face veil is not a common sight in Germany. ;</p>
<p>A bill has yet to be introduced, but De Maiziere explains that the ban would only apply in &ldquo;places where it is necessary for our society&rsquo;s coexistence,&rdquo; such as schools, government offices, and courtrooms. The ;blanket ban favored by Angela Merkel&rsquo;s hard right Christian Union bloc, he points out, would be far less likely to win approval in parliament. ;</p>
<p><strong>&ldquo;From my point of view,&rdquo; says Merkel,&rdquo; a woman who is entirely veiled has hardly any chance at integrating.&rdquo; ;</strong></p>
<p>Germany isn&rsquo;t the first nation to oppose the idea of full-face veils. In April 2011, France became the first country to ban the burqa and the niqab. Any woman caught wearing a veil in public, as well as any person attempting to force a woman to wear a veil, ;risks ;a hefty fine and up to 1 year in prison. Belgium passed a similar ban in July 2011. ;Chad banned women from wearing the burqa following two bombings in June 2015.</p>
<p>Other countries have banned face veils in places like hospitals, while some leave the decision to individual schools and government offices. ;</p>
<p>Turkish-born integration expert Bilkey Oney believes that Germany would gain nothing by banning the burqa: &ldquo;In France they long ago outlawed the burqa, but it apparently couldn&rsquo;t stop a single terror attack. However, I don&rsquo;t like the mentality behind a burqa either &ndash; it is a piece of clothing that no emancipated woman can accept.&#8221;</p>
<p>Oney believes that instead of focusing on clothing, Germany should work to expand its integration efforts. &ldquo;You have to convince people to no longer want (the burqa). We must ensure that Muslims and migrants emancipate themselves, but that will take time.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>De Maiziere&#8217;s suggested ban is a compromise between hardliners as Germany prepares for two critical regional polls in which the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is poised to make strong gains.</p>
<p>The AfD has attempted to make a connection between the record number of refugees and migrants Germany has accepted over the past two years and the increased threat of terrorism &ndash; a stance Chancellor Merkel simply will not accept. &ldquo;The phenomenon of Islamist terrorism by ISIS is not something that came to us with the refugees,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It was already there.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The idea to ban the burqa was introduced on August 11th as De Maiziere revealed strict new anti-terror measures in the wake of two attacks last month (both have been claimed by ISIS). The new measures include ;a proposal to strip jihadist fighters of their German citizenship and changes to the deportation process that would expedite the removal of convicted migrants. ;</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> This would treat one of the symptoms, but not the real probem which is that radical Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy.</p>