The guests who never left: 50 years of Turks in Germany

By Helen Livingstone Nov 2, 2011, 13:43 GMT

Berlin - When Sanur Yildirim's parents moved to the German city of Stuttgart to work in a factory 40 years ago, neighbours would leave suitcases full of toys and clothes outside their door for her older siblings.

'The people were kind but they were shy so they'd just ring the doorbell and run away,' the 34-year-old fashion buyer says.

Since Germany signed an agreement with Turkey 50 years ago this week to encourage low-skilled workers to help rebuild its economy after World War II, the country's Turkish population has shot from 7,000 in 1961 to around 3 million.

But while so-called guest workers (Gastarbeiter) like Yildirim's parents were welcomed at first, the presence of a large Turkish population has often caused friction, usually linked to questions of integration, whether Islam belongs to Germany and the loyalties of the Turkish population.

The original agreement with Turkey foresaw that the guest workers would, as the name implied, at some point return home. Integration was not an issue for Germany or the immigrant workers.

'When I was at school, for the first few years all the foreign children were put together in one class,' says Yildirim. 'It made it very difficult to learn German, but our parents didn't think it mattered. 'We're going back anyway,' was their attitude.'

But like many others they stayed and made Germany their home. A clause which limited the workers' stay to two years was removed in 1964 at the behest of employers anxious to avoid the cost of training new arrivals.

With 180,000 Turks, Berlin boasts the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey and the districts of Kreuzberg and Neukoelln, where Yildirim sits drinking coffee with her friend Rasit, are famous within Germany as being at the heart of that community.

They are frequently cited as the areas where Turks are least integrated.

'I like to get out of Neukoelln and practice my German,' says 25-year-old Hanifi, a Turkish Kurd who works in one of the area's ubiquitous kebab shops and doesn't want to reveal his surname. 'Otherwise I could get by completely here speaking Turkish.'

A book published last year by former central banker and politician Thilo Sarrazin, Germany Abolishes Itself, sparked a particularly nasty row about integration.

Sarrazin accused families of Turkish and Arab origin of refusing to integrate, being too reliant on state welfare and of being a threat to indigenous German culture.

'I don't hate him for that, he was right about some things and I think freedom of expression is very important,' says Hanifi.

Identity remains a complicated issue for most Turks living in Germany, with many second and third generation Turks retaining a Turkish passport. Just over a third have German citizenship. Germany will not allow them joint citizenship.

'My parents have German citizenship but there was a complication with my application because at the time I was self-employed,' says Yildirim. 'Even though I was born, went to school here and feel at home here, it just took too long and I gave up after five years.'

Hanifi, who moved from his home city of Urfa, eastern Turkey, when he was 13, says he also gave up.

'The citizenship test is too hard,' he says. 'I know a lot about German politics, often more than my German friends, but I don't care so much about the history, the war and I don't see why I need to learn about it.'

But he is proud of his adopted homeland.

'I felt foreign in Turkey but I love Berlin,' Hanifi says as he slices meat from a spit. 'I've had the best days of my life here.'

'And I don't like the oppression in Turkey,' he adds. 'I can have a beer here without being accused of being a bad Muslim. I have freedom.'

Germans have also become more aware of the contribution that the Turkish community has made to Germany, Yildirim argues.

Aside from providing the manpower behind the country's post-war economic boom, Turks have also founded 75,000 businesses employing 330,000 people, according to the Association of Turkish European Entpreneurs (BTEU).

While people with Turkish roots are still underrepresented in public life, they are becoming ever more present.

Mesut Ozil, star of the national football team, is of Turkish descent, as is Fatih Akin, one of Germany's most famous film directors, and Cem Ozdemir, co-leader of the Green Party.

But, as Hanifi points out, the humble kebab is perhaps their most tangible contribution. The invention of Germany's most popular fast food has been credited to Turkish immigrant Kadir Nurman, who sold the first kebab at Berlin's Zoo train station in 1972.

'The Germans taught us about law and order,' says Yildirim. 'But we've given them a lot too.'

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