George Adair has another good post on the Paris riots - night eight and counting – and he rightly points to the fact that care should be taken in treating Europe’s Muslim community with a broad brush. He’s absolutely right, but when we consider some of the reporting it is a bit of an irony isn’t it? For days the mainstream media remained quiet, somehow oblivious to the ongoing rampage in Paris, and now all of a sudden all of Europe’s Muslims are thrown into one basket as one cohesive group of troublemakers. Nuance, my friends, nuance.

Apart from the difference between the good, the bad and the radical, there are notable and important cultural distinctions. Three Turkish writers point out in a very interesting piece on the role of their nation in Europe that these differences are crucial in understanding some of the recent developments:

The Netherlands, whose Muslim community is dominated by two national elements, Turks and Moroccans, demonstrates this argument best. Of the 880,000 Muslims in the Netherlands, 34 percent are Moroccans and 40 percent are Turks, with the remainder being smaller communities of Muslims from Suriname, Indonesia, and elsewhere. While the Turks are yet to integrate fully into the Dutch society, they are standing away from the wave of Islamic radicalization that is sweeping Europe. The Hofstad Group to which van Gogh’s murderer Mohammed Bouyeri belonged had thirteen members of Moroccan origin (and two Dutch Antillean converts), but no Turks in its ranks.

Correct and the blame for the mayhem in Paris can also be attributed without any hesitation to groups hailing from the Maghreb. And with the advent of a possible Turkish entry into the European Union it is understandable that some Muslim groups are realizing that the time has come to distance themselves from trouble created by the underbelly of immigrant Europe. Therein, according to the writers, can we find the key for Europe to start integrating Muslims:

“As a secular country, Turkey provides Europe with lessons for how to deal with—and perhaps even modernize—Islam. The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, drew inspiration from nineteenth century European thinking in establishing the republic. Just as Turkey learned from Europe in the past, the EU can now turn to Turkey for lessons on dealing with Islam”

“ … it would help to distinguish between a “Muslim problem” and an “Islamic radicalization problem” in Europe. Were it to do so, the EU would find out that it has much to learn and little to fear from Turkey”

Yes, it’s a bit of a clever sales pitch to get Turkey in the door. But if European nations really want to take on the scourge of Muslim radicalism then there are many concurrent routes that need to be taken. Some of them are: a crackdown on jihadist elements, expelling illegal immigrants, strengthening authority, revamping economies and rebuilding national identities. The central route however, the crucial road that needs to be taken to solve Europe’s woes is to find a way to engage moderate Muslims. Turkey may well have a chart for that journey.