German chancellor Angela Merkel has staked her political future on facing down the so-called Islamic State and mastering the refugee crisis they have triggered.
Amid growing public unease, Dr Merkel insisted she would not allow Islamist attacks undermine German values or, in a nod to domestic critics, force her to alter her asylum strategy.
“I believe that we are in a struggle . . . in a war against [Islamic State] – that’s indisputable,” she said yesterday. “What is very important to me, though, is this: we are not in a war or battle against Islam.”
Interrupting her holidays to face the press for 90 minutes in Berlin, Dr Merkel condemned four violent attacks in recent days – two claimed by Islamic State, also known as Isis, with the aim, she said, of sowing "hate and fear between cultures and religions".
Two attacks in Bavaria – an axe attack last week near Würzburg and a suicide bombing on Sunday in Ansbach – were carried out by a refugee and failed asylum seeker respectively.
“That two men who came to us as refugees carried out the attacks in Würzburg and Ansbach mocks our country,” Dr Merkel said.
The series of attacks has stirred up further doubts in Germany about the wisdom and consequences of Berlin's open-door asylum strategy, that brought over one million people into Germany last year.
She conceded this decision had allowed Islamist terrorists slip into Europe among genuine asylum seekers, but insisted her humanitarian response of a year ago remained correct.
‘Historical challenge’
“Today as then I am convinced that we will manage our historical challenge,” she said. “But given the new challenges we face – shaped by Islamist terror – we will introduce the correct measures and make clear we want to give our citizens security and master the integration challenges”.
Calling the Islamic State challenge a “huge litmus test for all of Europe”, she called for greater EU and international efforts to identify radicals and crack down on weapons sales.
Dr Merkel vowed to “redouble efforts” to deport failed asylum seekers and proposed an information security agency to decode encrypted communications used to plan attacks.
During a lively press conference, she batted away criticism for not visiting the attacks sites and reacting more slowly than other leaders. It was 17 hours before Dr Merkel commented on Friday’s gun attack in Munich, only after it emerged that the perpetrator was an 18-year-old German-born gunman with no apparent Islamist links.
“I have the feeling that I acted responsibly and correctly and no other feeling,” she said.
