Turks in Germany

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Turkish Germans


caption = Notable Turkish Germans: Mehmet Scholl, Kool Savas, Fatih Akin
poptime = 2,700,000 [ [http://medya.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/pdf/2007/Todays_Business_German.pdf Professor Şen: Turks Important Players Within European Union] , "Today's Business" supplement to "Today's Zaman", p. 14, June 22–24, 2007.]
langs = Turkish and German.
rels = Sunni Islam, Alevism, Sufism, small Christian and non-religious minorities.fact

Turks in Germany (occasionally "German Turks" or "Turkish Germans", German: "Deutschtürken") are people of Turkish ethnicity living in Germany. The term is sometimes applied by association to other, non-Turkish groups originating in Turkey — such as the Kurds. In general, however, the English language distinguishes between Turks and Kurds (and other groups) in a socio-cultural sense, including in Germany, but because the German state does not keep statistics on ethnicity it is impossible to accurately estimate the relative numbers of Turks and Kurds (and others) living in Germany with the consequence that both groups are categorised according to citizenship as "Turks"; many Kurds and Yazidis do not accept such a description.Fact|date=July 2007

History

The earliest records of Turks residing in Germany was in the early 1800s (and before) and the image above shows a cemetery in Berlin for the Turkish population. But they were a minuscule proportion of the German and other European countries' population. Ottoman Turks have long visited and perhaps scant hundreds of them settled down in the Holy Roman Empire as the invading troops advanced towards Vienna, Prague, Warsaw and Budapest in the 1600s to eventually assimilate into the majority Christian European populations of the host countries.

Large-scale migration of Turkish citizens to West Germany developed during the "Wirtschaftswunder" ("economic miracle") of the 1960s and 1970s. West Germany suffered an acute labour shortage after the Second World War and, in 1961, the Bundesrepublik and officials at the Turkish Republic negotiated a trade of skilled professionals. Turkish specialty workers were invited to move to Germany to fill in this void, particularly to work in the factories and places considered hazardous and unfit by German workers (e.g. the soon to be established nuclear plants). 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 60–80 hours a week in Germany would "only" be temporary.

Inevitably, human nature took its course,Fact|date=October 2008 and the work-force "soon" (3-4 years later) showed considerable signs of distress and many of these migrant workers were permitted to re-unite with their existing and abandoned families. As expected, many of the Gastarbeiters became settled permanent residents by default with the birth of offspring, school and other obligations in the new lands.

Population distribution

In 2004 there were 1.739 million or 1.764 million Turkish citizens in Germany, forming 26 per cent of all registered foreigners ("Ausländer") and the largest ethnic minority. In 2004, there were also 415.000 German citizens of Turkish origin. Therefore, overall, the number of German residents with origins in Turkey is 2.397 million.The vast majority are found in the former West Germany: Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Rhine-Ruhr (Cologne, Duisburg and Dortmund) and Stuttgart have large Turkish communities and Turkish districts such as Kreuzberg. The "Land" with the largest Turkish population is North Rhine-Westphalia followed by Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. German Turks are predominantly urban, but small numbers do live in rural areas.fact

Citizenship issues

Under previous German law, children born to foreigners in Germany were not entitled to German citizenship ("jus sanguinis"): a large population of permanently resident non-citizens developed, with the consequence over time that even the third generation born in Germany remained foreigners. As late as 2004, 36 per cent of Turkish citizens living in Germany did not have German nationality despite being born there.http://www.ces.boun.edu.tr/papers/feb/veysel_ozcan.pdf] In 2000, legislation was passed which conferred German citizenship on the German-born children of foreigners, and the naturalisation process was made easier, though dual citizenship is still not tolerated and any person possessing it by virtue of birth to foreign parents must choose between the ages of 18 and 23 which citizenship she or he wishes to retain, and forfeit the other.

Political behaviour

German Turks overwhelmingly support the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). A survey following the 2005 Federal election revealed close to 90 per cent voted for Gerhard Schröder's SPD/Green alliance.

There are now many parliamentarians — both at "Land" and federal level — with family origins in Turkey.

ee also

* Demographics of Germany
* Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği
* List of Turkish Germans

References

Further reading

* cite journal
quotes =
last = Green
first = Simon
authorlink =
coauthors =
date =
year = 2003
month = July
title = The Legal Status of Turks in Germany
journal = Immigrants and Minorities
volume = 22
issue = 2-3
pages = 228–246
issn =
pmid =
doi =
id =
url =

* cite journal
quotes =
last = Pécoud
first = Antoine
authorlink =
coauthors =
date =
year = 2003
month = July
title = Self-Employment and Immigrants' Incorporation: The Case of Turks in Germany
journal = Immigrants and Minorities
volume = 22
issue = 2-3
pages = 247–261
issn =
pmid =
doi =
id =
url =

* cite journal
quotes =
last = Şen
first = Faruk
authorlink =
coauthors =
date =
year = 2003
month = July
title = The Historical Situation of Turkish Migrants in Germany
journal = Immigrants and Minorities
volume = 22
issue = 2-3
pages = 208–227
issn =
pmid =
doi =
id =
url =

* cite journal
quotes =
last = Söhn
first = Janina
authorlink =
coauthors = Veysel Özcan
date =
year = 2006
month = March
title = The Educational Attainment of Turkish Migrants in Germany
journal = Turkish Studies
volume = 7
issue = 1
pages = 101–124
issn =
pmid =
doi =
id =
url =

* cite journal
quotes =
last = Watzinger-Tharp
first = Johanna
authorlink =
coauthors =
date =
year = 2004
month = October
title = Turkish-German language: an innovative style of communication and its implications for citizenship and identity
journal = Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs
volume = 24
issue = 2
pages = 285–294
issn =
pmid =
doi =
id =
url =

External links

* [http://www.tusiad.us/specific_page.cfm?CONTENT_ID=218 German Turks]
* [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1840793,00.html German citizenship for Muslim German Turks]
* [http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,394303,00.html Integration of Turkish-Germans]
* [http://www.turkishweekly.net/articles.php?id=32 "German Turks Question EU Fate", By Ray Furlong]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1627912.stm "Germany's guest workers mark 40 years", By Rob Broomby, BBC News]
* [http://www.berlinistanbul.de Berlin Türk Kulübü]
* [http://www.berlinim.de Turkish Flair in Berlin]