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Turkish President Recep Erdogan has threatened “a war between the cross and the crescent” in a speech more befitting an Ottoman Sultan bellowing hot air outside the Gates of Vienna in 1683 than the Europe of today.

The Turkish dictator was reacting to a decision last Friday by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to shut down several mosques in the country and expel Islamic clerics. Kurz warned that Austria “can’t abide ‘parallel societies’ and radical Islam.”

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The decision by the Austrian Chancellor met widespread support in the country with even the opposition centre-left Social Democrats calling it “the first sensible thing this government’s done.”

Austrians do not have pleasant memories of previous waves of Muslims who came knocking; first in the 1529 Siege of Vienna and then 150 years later in a war that culminated in the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

The decision by Austria to expel Islamic clerics came in the shadow of other European nations taking actions to reflect widespread resentment at the refusal by many Muslims to integrate into European culture and embrace European values.