Minister wants people to report radical rector

Jet Bussemaker, Minister for Education, hopes that people will file a report against the rector from the Islamic University of Rotterdam (IUR).Ahmet Akgündüz, the man in question, keeps on making the news with his radical views and statements. During a Q&A in the House of Representatives, Bussemaker said that she would like to report the rector herself, but she has no jurisdiction to do so because she is no aggrieved party in the matter.

Rector Akgündüz has made hateful statements about homosexuals, Jews, Armenians, Alevis, Kurds and Turks that are too pro-western in his eyes. He also called the people that bombed Ankara ‘heroes’. Bussemaker says that these are unacceptable statements, that conflict with the Dutch values.

The IUR’s rector and board have been called upon their actions many times by the Ministry of Education. Through a press release, they dismiss the allegations and say that the media should be more objective. Minister Bussemaker says she has lost trust in the rector and board completely. Because the IUR as an institution sticks by the rules and meets all demands, Bussemaker is not able to take action right now. For a while now, she has been working on a new law, that should make it possible to intervene in situations like this.