A top integration officer in Berlin has issued a stark warning about the growing Islamist influence in the city’s migrant-heavy neighborhoods, where underage girls are receiving marriage counseling from radical imams. Güner Balci, a Turkish-born official for the Neukölln borough, said parts of the capital have become strongholds for hardline Islamic ideology, forcing her to move for her daughter’s safety.
Balci, speaking to Der Spiegel, described a dramatic transformation in Neukölln, once home to a single mosque, now hosting nearly 30—many of which she alleges are backed by extremist networks. “I know of imams who offer marriage counselling for 14-year-old girls and find it acceptable for a man to take a second wife,” Balci stated. She revealed that some mosques in the area have direct connections to Qatar or the Muslim Brotherhood.
The integration officer, whose job is to promote assimilation, admitted that assimilation is being reversed by radical religious and cultural norms. She highlighted how female invisibility and patriarchal control are now the norm in some communities. “It began with the influx of Palestinian families from Lebanon,” she said, noting that this migration wave brought deeply entrenched patriarchal customs that have since spread.
Balci criticized the failure of local and national government leaders to act against the spread of Islamist influence. She warned that public funding is being misused to support radical operations, citing a Shiite mosque in Neukölln currently building a daycare center with government funds. “At the front, you can see women wearing black veils coming out – and a daycare centre is now to be built at the back? I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.
This revelation echoes findings in a recent French intelligence report that identified the Muslim Brotherhood’s long-term strategy to entrench Islamic fundamentalism across Europe. The report described a broad and covert infiltration effort, using community roles—like sports clubs and private schools—to “supervise the life of the Muslim.” France warned that Germany is a key operational base due to its long history with Brotherhood-linked networks.
As European cities struggle with the consequences of unassimilated migrant enclaves, the situation in Berlin’s Neukölln provides a sobering example of how Islamist structures can replace local governance and erode Western cultural norms—particularly the rights of women and children.
