A Muslim woman who has been selected for a senior post in German regional government faced a storm of criticism today after she suggested crucifixes, a Christian symbol, be removed from public schools, according to dpa. Through a spokesman, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she did not agree with the proposal by Aygul Ozkan, 38, who is a member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Ozkan is due to be sworn in Tuesday as social welfare minister in the government of Lower Saxony, one of 16 German states. In a news interview, Ozkan had suggested crucifixes and veils, as a Muslim symbol, be banned from secular school classrooms. Crucifixes still hang in village schools in strongly Catholic regions, but are rare in city schools. In Hanover, where she is about to move into her office, Ozkan apologized to state CDU legislators and said she had not meant to provoke such a fuss. Her new boss, the state premier Christian Wulff, said he was still confident in her. "She'll be a first-class minister," he said. "Ozkan accepts that crucifixes are welcomed in Lower Saxony schools." Ozkan, who is a German national born in Hamburg, is the first person of Turkish ancestry to become a minister in any level of German government.
