Turks in Germany

Turks in Germany
Almanya'daki Türkler

Total population
(1.55 million (Turkish citizens, in 2013) 2.71 million (Residents in Germany with at least one parent from Turkey) Turkey: 193,000 (Former German residents of Turkish background living in Turkey))
Regions with significant populations
North Rhine-Westphalia · Stuttgart · Munich · Berlin · Frankfurt · Hanover · Nuremberg
Languages
German language, Turkish language
Religion
Predominantly Islam (Sunni · Alevi)

Turks in Germany (German: Türken in Deutschland or Deutsch-Türken; Turkish: Almanya Türkleri, "Almancılar") refers to persons living in Germany originating from Turkey. They form the largest ethnic minority in Germany. Before, some older sources overestimate and underestimate the number of people with Turkish background. 1.55 million people still hold Turkish citizenship, thus forming the largest group of non-citizens in Germany.

History

Large-scale migration of Turkish citizens to West Germany developed during the Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle") of the 1960s and 1970s. Suffering from an acute labour shortage because of the economic boom, the West German government negotiated a trade of labour with their Turkish counterparts. Turkish workers were invited to move to West Germany to fill in this void, particularly to work in the factories to do simple repetitive tasks. Turkish citizens soon became the largest group of Gastarbeiter—literally, guest workers—in West Germany, labouring alongside Italians, Yugoslavs, Spaniards, Greeks and other immigrants. The perception at the time on the part of both the West German Government and the Turkish Republic representatives was that working in Germany would only be temporary. Within a few years, the migrant workers showed considerable signs of distress and were permitted to re-unite with their existing and abandoned families. Eventually, many became settled permanent residents by default with the birth of offspring, school and other obligations in the new lands.

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Germany

According to the census 2011 there are almost 3 million people having at least one parent immigrated from Turkey. In 2013, there were 1,550,000 Turkish citizens in Germany which accounted for 22.1% of Germany's foreign population and thus the largest ethnic minority. The official number of Turks with Turkish citizenship in Germany is falling, partly because about 30-70,000 are taking on German citizenship per year (with a downward trend, however), and since the year 2000, children born in Germany are entitled to adopt German citizenship if at least one parent has lived for eight years in Germany and has a perpetual residence permit.

In 2005, there were 840,000 German citizens of Turkish origin. Overall, the number of German residents with origins in Turkey was approximately 2,998,000 or approximately 3.7% of Germany's population.

Population distribution

Turks in Germany are concentrated predominantly in urban centers. Currently, about 60% of Turkish immigrants live in cities whilst at least a quarter of Turks live in smaller towns. The vast majority are found in the former West Germany. The majority live in industrial regions such as the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Baden-Württemberg and the working-class neighbourhoods of cities like Berlin (especially in Neukölln), Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Mainz, Nuremberg, Munich, and Stuttgart.

State	Number of Turks	% of State population	% of Turks in Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia	1,019,000	5.7	34.0
Baden-Württemberg	508,000	4.7	16.9
Bavaria	377,000	3.0	12.6
Hessen	283,000	4.6	9.4
Berlin	218,000	6.2	7.3
Lower Saxony	221,000	2.8	7.4
Rhineland-Palatinate	122,000	3.1	4.1
Hamburg	93,000	5.2	3.1
Schleswig-Holstein	60,000	2.1	2.0
Bremen	49,000	7.4	1.6
Neue Länder (former East Germany)	25,000	0.2	0.8
Saarland	23,000	2.3	0.8
Total	2,998,000	3.7	100.0

Characteristics

The German state does not keep statistics on ethnicity so, therefore, categorizes all ethnic groups originating from Turkey as being of Turkish national origin. This has the consequence of ethnic minorities from Turkey now living in Germany being referred to as "Turks". About one-fourth to one-fifth of Turkish nationals are ethnic Kurds (amounting to some 350,000), around 100,000 are Assyrians (Who came here en masse due to persecution for their Christian religion) and other groups possibly included as Turks could include Zazas, Circassians, Greeks, Jews, Armenians and some others. However, many of the last few Turkish minorities listed are assimilated, and don't even consider themselves as minorities. Furthermore, the number of ethnic Turks who have immigrated to Germany from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania and other traditional areas of Turkish settlement which were once part of the Ottoman territories in Europe are unknown as these Turkish minorities are categorised by their citizenship rather than their Turkish ethnicity.

Other Turkish communities

The official estimates of the Turkish immigrant population in Germany does not include the Turks whose origins go back to the Ottoman Empire. In Germany, there are ethnic Turkish people such as Turks from Bulgaria, Turks from Cyprus, Turks from Greece (Crete  / Dodecanese  / Western Thrace), Turks from Romania and Yugoslavia. These populations, which have different nationalities, share the same ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious origins as Turkish nationals.

Bulgaria

See also: Turks in Bulgaria and Bulgarians in Germany

From the early 1990s Western Europe began to attract Turks from Bulgaria for the first time in their social history. Migration to Germany, in particular, was initiated by those Bulgarian Turks who, for various reasons, were unable to join the first massive migration wave to Turkey in 1989 or who were part of the subsequent return wave which was dissatisfied with the conditions of life or the social adjustment prospects there. The majority of Turks from Bulgaria migrated to Germany in the 1990s asylum regime, which provided generous social benefits.

Cyprus

Approximately 2,000 Turkish Cypriots live in Germany.

Greece

See also: Cretan Turks, Turks of the Dodecanese, Turks of Western Thrace, and Muslim minority of Greece

There are some members of the Greek Muslim community among the some 300,000 Greeks living in Germany who are Turkish-speaking or who espouse a Turkish identity. The majority of Greek Muslims come from Western Thrace. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Muslims leaving Greece and immigrating to Germany with estimates suggesting that today there are now between 19,000 and 29,000 residing in Germany.

Lebanon

See also: Turks in Lebanon and Lebanese people in Germany

In 1950, thousands of Turks left the Turkish city of Mardin and headed for Lebanon because of the economic crises and unemployment in Turkey. Though the first Turks who left for Lebanon were originally just going to make money, they started to plan the rest of their lives there (mainly in Beirut). However, most of these Turks then migrated to European countries due to the war between the Arabs and the Israelis. When the Israel Lebanon war took place in 2006, more than 20,000 Turks fled Lebanon, forced to take refuge in Germany and various other European countries.

Republic of Macedonia

See also: Turks in Macedonia and Macedonians in Germany

Culture

See also: Culture of Germany and Culture of Turkey

File:Türkisches Kinderfest 2007 08.JPG

Turkish and Turkish Cypriot youth performing as an Ottoman military band in Uetersen

Turkish parade in Berlin

Due to the geographic proximity of Germany and Turkey, cultural transfer and influence from the country of origin has remained considerable among the Turkish minority. Furthermore, the majority of second-generation Turks appear to have developed emotional and cultural ties to their parents' country and also to the country which they live in and intend to remain. Most Turks live in two conflicting cultures with Taim Al Jarrah with contrasting behaviour codes and patterns of belonging. At work or school, German culture tends to dominate, while during leisure time social networks divide along ethnic lines of the Turkish culture. In the first generation of migrants, social networks were almost exclusively Turkish, and now in the second and third generations this segregation line remains just as effective as ever.

Language

See also: Languages of Germany

The Turkish language is Germany’s main immigrant language. The second and third generation Turks often speak a variety of German referred to as "Kiezdeutsch." Some modify their Turkish by adding German grammatical and syntactical structures or the other way round. In the early 1990s a new sociolect called "Türkendeutsch" emerged which is often seen as "ghetto-language". Grammatically poor German and a certain pronunciation as well as a colloquial tone are characteristic of this lingual variety. Today it is not only used by many people with Turkish background but also by different ethnic groups including ethnic Germans in urban areas with a high concentration of migrants. In some schools of Germany, Turkish has even been approved as a subject to be studied for the Abitur.

Selimiye mosque, Lünen.

File:Mannheim-Moschee.jpg

Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque in Mannheim has been the largest mosque in Germany for many years.

Religion

See also: Religion in Germany, Islam in Germany, and Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs

Turks are the predominant Muslim ethnic group in Germany. In fact, by the 1960s, the label Turk in Germany was synonymous with Muslim. Today, Turks make up 63.2% of Germany’s Muslim population. Thus, Islam in Germany has a largely Turkish character. Religion has proven to be of particular importance for Turks in Germany for reasons more to do with ethnic reassurance rather than faith. More than any other manifestation of their cultural values, Islam is regarded as the one feature that most strongly differentiates them in terms of identity from the majority of the German population.

Not all Turks in Germany are Muslim, though. 6% of Turkish youth in Germany adhere to no religion, others adhere to non-Muslim faiths such as Christianity or Yazidi.

Religious practice

A study comparing Turkish Muslim youths living in Germany and German youth found that the former were more likely to attend religious services regularly (35% versus 14%). 41% of young Turkish Muslim boys and 52% of the girls said they prayed "sometimes or regularly", 64% of boys and 74% of girls said they wanted to teach their children religion. 25% of the Turkish women from the first generation and 17% from the second generation wear a headscarf.

Integration issues

Naturalisation of Turkish citizens:

Year	Population	Year	Population
1982	580	1996	46,294
1983	853	1997	42,420
1984	1,053	1998	59,664
1985	1,310	1999	103,900
1986	1,492	2000	82,861
1987	1,184	2001	76,573
1988	1,243	2002	64,631
1989	1,713	2003	56,244
1990	2,034	2004	44,465
1991	3,529	2005	32,661
1992	7,377	2006	33,388
1993	12,915	2007	28,861
1994	19,590	2008	25,230
1995	31,578	2009	24,647

Demonstration of Germans and Turks at the site of the Solingen arson attack of 1993 which was one of the most severe instances of anti-foreigner violence in modern Germany.

Turkish immigrants from the onset were regarded as temporary settlers, hence the name guest workers. Consequently, Germany did not put into place structures that would facilitate the integration of the Turks in the new society, and neither did the Turks themselves work toward becoming integrated into the new society. Furthermore, Turks are perceived by some to be the 'most foreign' group in Germany.

Discrimination

See also: Neo-Nazism

For Turks in German society, patterns of discrimination maintain disadvantages of low economic and social status, whilst also restraining social advancement. The number of violent acts by right-wing extremists in Germany increased dramatically between 1990 and 1992. On November 25, 1992, three Turkish residents were killed in a firebombing in Mölln (Western Germany). The attack prompted even further perplexity since the victims were neither refugees nor lived in a hostel. Author Greg Nees, writing in 2000, stated that "Because Turks are both darker-skinned and Muslim, conservative Germans are largely against granting them citizenship."

Integration problems

In recent years, some in the Turkish minority have shown cultural problems in integrating into German society. A recent non-governmental telephone survey, carried out jointly by Liljeberg and the Berlin-based INFO polling company sampled 1011 Turkish migrants living in Germany. It showed 72% of the Turks surveyed in Germany believe that Islam is the only true religion, 62% prefer social contacts only to fellow Turks, 46% wish that one day more Muslims live in Germany than Christians, 25% think atheists are inferior human beings and 18% felt that Jews are inferior people.

Citizenship

Further information: Nationality law

Under previous German law, children born to foreigners in Germany were not entitled to German citizenship by birth. This was modified in 1991. In 2000, legislation was passed which conferred German citizenship on the German-born children of foreigners (born after 1990), and the naturalisation process was made easier, although dual citizenship is only permitted to citizens of the EU and Switzerland and any other national possessing it (including citizens of Turkey) by virtue of birth must choose between the ages of 18 and 23 which citizenship she or he wishes to retain, and renounce their other passport. If one parent is German, a dual citizen is not required to give up the German citizenship if they keep the other citizenship. These strict limits on dual citizenship are criticised by liberal parties in Germany and institutions which promote German-Turkish relations. Former Turkish citizens who have given up their Turkish citizenship can apply for the "Blue Card" (Mavi Kart), which gives them some citizens' rights back, e.g. the right to live and work in Turkey, the right to possess land or the right to inherit, but not, for example, the right to vote.

Political behaviour

Turks have been a somewhat inert force in German politics because the first generation of Turks saw their stay in Germany as temporary. Moreover, few Turks have German citizenship and the attention of many Turks focuses on Turkish rather than German politics. However, in recent years, there has been increasing political participation by Turks in Germany, even those who are not citizens. Because of its supportive stand on immigration and naturalisation, most Turks favour the Social Democratic Party (SPD). A survey following the 2005 Federal election revealed close to 90 percent voted for Gerhard Schröder's SPD/Green alliance. There are now many parliamentarians — both at state and federal level — with family origins in Turkey. In 2008 German-born second generation Turk Cem Özdemir became leader of the German Green Party.

Popular culture

See also: Turkish-German Cinema and Turkish hip hop

Turkish-German Cinema developed in the late 1990s and 2000s, dealing prominently with issues of transcultural contact and integration. One of the internationally most acclaimed Turkish-German directors is Fatih Akın, who is known for his movies Head-On (2004, with Sibel Kekilli) and The Edge of Heaven (2007). Especially since the 2000s, Turkish-German contributors and issues also entered German television, e.g. with the critically acclaimed television comedy-drama series Türkisch für Anfänger ('Turkish for Beginners', ARD 2006 – 2009, created by Bora Dağtekin). Its 2012 movie spin-off of the same title became the most successful German movie of the year.

Timeline

Time	Events
1961	Bilateral Recruitment Agreement with Turkey. A Central Recruitment Office is established in Istanbul, and by the year’s end, 7,000 Turkish workers are living in Germany.
1962	Founding of the first Turkish social and political organization in Germany, the Union of Turkish Workers in the Cologne Region.
March 1962	Conflicting information about taxation rates of salaries leads Turkish miners in Essen and Hamburg to stage a strike. 26 workers are fired and deported.
June 15, 1963	The International Committee for Information and Social Action founds monthly newspaper Anadolu—a newspaper for Turks living in Germany.
1964	West German Radio begins Turkish language broadcasts under the name Köln Radyosu throughout the West German territory.
September 30, 1964	Renewal of the Gastarbeiter (guest worker) agreement between West Germany and Turkey.
1965	WDR and ZDF begin to produce television series such as Neighbors, Our Homeland/Your Homeland, and later Babylon, geared towards the Turkish viewership.
1965	2,700 Turks live in West Berlin. Guest workers who have been employed in West Germany for five years may now receive an automatic five-year renewal of their work permit, regardless of whether they are citizens of a European country.
1967	Founding of the Turkish Union (Türk Federasyonu).
1971	Three daily Turkish newspapers: Akşam (Evening), Tercüman (The Interpreter), and Hürriyet (Liberty) print editions for migrant readership in Germany.
July 21, 1972	Turkish General Consul Metin Kusdaloglu greets Necati Güven, the 500,000th guest worker recruited at the Istanbul Recruitment Office, at Munich Airport.
1973	Turks account for 23% of all foreigners living in Germany. A strike at the Cologne Ford factory leads to press debates on the "politicization of foreign workers".
July 30, 1973	Spiegel magazine’s cover headline reads "Ghettos in Germany - 1 Million Turks".
November 23, 1973	West Germany halts recruitment of Guest workers. Many Guest workers, fearing imminent anti-immigration laws, arrange for family members to join them in Germany, thus leading to an increase in immigrant populations, rather than the decrease sought by the West German government.
1975	The West German government decrees that no foreigners may move to a neighborhood or region where the percentage of foreigners exceeds 12% of the entire population.
December 8, 1981	West German law prohibits children over the age of 16 from joining their parents in Germany. Younger children who have at least one parent in the home country also may not immigrate to Germany.
May 26, 1982	Semra Ertan lights herself on fire in the Hamburg Marketplace to protest an increase in xenophobia.
November 28, 1983	A new law for the Promotion of Readiness to Return (Das Gesetz zur Förderung der Rückkehrbereitschaft) offers jobless guest workers 10,500 DM to return to their country of origin. Only 13,000 individuals make use of this option.

Time	Events
November 9, 1989	Fall of the Berlin Wall
1990	TRT, Turkey’s state-run television and radio corporation, begins daily broadcasts to Germany.
1991	Emine Sevgi Özdamar, a Turkish writer/actress living in Berlin, wins the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Great controversy over the state of “German" literature ensues.
November 22, 1992	An arson attack in Moelln (Schleswig-Holstein) kills three Turkish women.
May 29, 1993	An arson attack in the city of Solingen, kills five Turkish residents, all members of a family that had lived in Germany for 23 years. The attack leads to many pro-Turkish/anti-xenophobia demonstrations and to a public discussion about right-wing activities and skinheads in Germany.
June 30, 1993	The naturalization of foreigners is governed by the Nationality Act of 1913 and a number of special acts. In order to facilitate the integration of foreigners who were born in Germany, have grown up there or have lived there for at least 15 years, they have a legal entitlement to naturalization under sections 85ff. of the Aliens Act as amended on this day.
1993	Teams of the German Soccer League participate in the “Peacefully With One Another" project by wearing a slogan on their uniforms which reads 'My friend is a foreigner'.
1994	Leyla Onur and Cem Özdemir become the first elected Bundestag representatives of Turkish descent.
January 1998	According to the Ministry of the Interior, 9.37 million foreigners live in Germany, 2.11 million are Turks.
July 1998	CDU election platform seeks to reduce immigration by reducing government subsidized housing for foreigners, and rejecting the possibility of dual citizenship.
November 1998	Newly appointed Commissioner for Foreigners Marieluise Beck (Greens) plans to develop an image for Germany as a 'country of immigration'. Berlin schools may legally provide Islamic education to pupils, after a court battle between the school district and the Islamic Federation in Berlin. Failed appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court to prohibit Bavaria from deporting a 14-year-old legal offender born in Germany to Turkey.
2000	7.3 million legally resident foreigners in Germany; 2 million are Turkish citizens, 750,000 of whom were born in Germany.
2000	New citizenship law takes effect. Children born to foreigners in Germany automatically receive German citizenship, as long as one parent has been a legal resident for at least eight years. Children can also hold the nationality of their parents, but must decide to be citizens of one country before the age of 23.
2010	Chancellor Angela Merkel claims that Germany being a multicultural nation has "utterly failed".
2013	Eleven people of Turkish origin are elected to the 18th Bundestag. The new grand coalition government intends to simplify the requirements for dual citizenship.

Notable people

See also: List of German Turks

• Mesut Özil, Germany national football team (04).jpg

  Mesut Özil, footballer

• 

  Halil Altıntop, footballer

• Schalke Hamit Altintop03.jpg

  Hamit Altıntop, footballer

• 

  Kaya Yanar, comedian

• 1 Live Krone 2013 Bülent Ceylan 1.jpg

  Bülent Ceylan, comedian

• Fatih Akin Goa 2010.jpg

  Fatih Akın, film director

• 

  Nazan Eckes, television presenter

• Mehmet Scholl.jpg

  Mehmet Scholl, footballer

• WikiCemOezdemir.JPG

  Cem Özdemir, politician

• 

  Ekin Deligöz, politician

• Django-asuel.jpg

  Django Asül, comedian

• Atiye Deniz 2007.jpg

  Atiye Deniz, singer

• Ercandize sommer 2005 in dortmund.jpg

  Ercandize, rapper

• Eko Fresh.jpg

  Eko Fresh, rapper

• Malik-Fathi BMK.jpg

  Malik Fathi, footballer

• 

  Sibel Kekilli, actress

• Monrose - Bahar Kızıl (2908).jpg

  Bahar Kızıl, singer

• 

  Muhabbet, singer

• Asli Bayram.jpg

  Aslı Bayram, Miss Germany 2005

• Gökalp.Özekler.jpg

  Gökalp Özekler, boxer

• 

  Berkant Göktan, footballer

• 

  Asiye Özlem Şahin, boxer

• 

  Nuri Şahin, footballer

• Kool savas.jpg

  Kool Savas, rapper

• 

  Tarkan, singer

• Serdar Tasci.jpg

  Serdar Tasci, footballer

• Ilkay Gündogan 2013 in Wilhelmshaven.jpeg

  İlkay Gündoğan, footballer

• 

  Leyla Tuğutlu, Miss Turkey 2008

• 

  Gökhan Töre, footballer

• Cevat Yerli at gamescom 2009 PNr°0129.JPG

  Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek

• 

  Muhammed Suiçmez, guitarist of the band Necrophagist

• Fryderyk August Rutowski.jpeg

  Frederick Augustus Rutowski

• Hakan-Calhanoglu-2015-08.jpg

  Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Footballer

See also

• Demographics of Germany
• Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği
• German–Turkish relations
• List of Turkish Germans
• Turks in Berlin
• Turks in Europe
• Turks in the Netherlands
• Turkish American
• Turks in Denmark

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Further reading

• Yukleyen, Ahmet. Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands (Syracuse University Press; 2012) 280 pages; explores diversity with a comparative study of five religious communities in the two countries.

External links

• Germany-Turkey
• "Germany's guest workers mark 40 years", By Rob Broomby, BBC News
• Berlin Türk Kulübü
• Turkish Flair in Berlin
• Citizenship Test
• Migrants in Germany