Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama | Manjunath Kiran/AFP via Getty Images Dalai Lama: Germany cannot become an Arab country Spiritual leader says there are ‘too many’ refugees in Europe.

“There are too many refugees in Europe,” and this “makes it difficult in practice,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview with German newspaper FAZ published Tuesday.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said everyone has a responsibility to help refugees, but added that "there are now too many."

"Europe, and for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country," said the Dalai Lama, who himself fled from Tibet to Dharamsala, India in 1959.

"And morally speaking, I think that refugees can only be taken in on a temporary basis. The goal should be to return them and help them to rebuild their own countries," he added.

When asked about growing Islamophobia across Europe, he said there are “individuals and small groups who kill each other, they do not represent the entire Islam and all Muslims.”