Germany’s Bundesbank has stripped board member and former Berlin finance minister Thilo Sarrazin of his central duties after offensive remarks about Turkish and Arab immigrants in the capital city. Sarrazin caused outrage across the nation at the end of September when in an interview published in the journal Lettre International he said, “I don’t need to respect anyone who lives off the state, denies the state, doesn’t do anything to educate their kids, and just produces more headscarf girls.” The racist remark “goes for 70 per cent of the Turkish population and 90 per cent of the Arab population in Berlin.” His words were however condemned by both the Jewish and Muslim councils of Germany.