Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior conservative allies hit back
at Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after he urged Turks
living in Germany to keep their traditions and resist
assimilation.
Speaking in Cologne on Sunday at the end of a four-day trip to
Germany which highlighted differences, Erdogan said Turks residing
here should learn German, but urged them not to give up their
Turkish identities and called assimilation a "crime against
humanity".
The comments sparked sharp reactions from Merkel and members of her
conservatives, who have long argued that immigrant groups must
fully adapt to the German way of life, including abandoning aspects
of their native cultures.
"If they are citizens, then of course I expect them to behave as
full citizens without qualification. Their loyalties are then to
the German state," Merkel told reporters in Hamburg, when asked
about Erdogan's remarks.
"I think further talks with the Turkish prime minister are needed
about the meaning of integration," she added.
Some 2.5 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, more
than in any other country in western Europe.
While some are well integrated into German life, others live in
separate urban communities, speak only Turkish, and stick to old
traditions.
Ali Kizilkaya, head of the German Muslim group Islamrat, told the
Tagesspiegel daily that Erdogan had touched many Turks in Germany
by encouraging them not to forget their culture and expressed
disbelief at the outrage over his comments.
"A lot of Turks finally got the feeling a government leader was
listening to them," Kizilkaya said of Erdogan's visit. "That's
something Merkel could do too."
Integration
Merkel, who opposes Turkey's bid to join the European Union, has
made improving integration a priority of her government, bringing a
co-ordinator for the issue into her Chancellery and holding regular
"summits" with leading immigrant groups.
But both she and her party have tended to put the onus on
immigrants to adapt.
When asked last month, for example, why the government's
"integration plan" existed only in German, she replied curtly that
German was the national language and those who could not read it
should learn.
Senior conservatives, including Merkel's Interior Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble, were quick to reject a suggestion by Erdogan during his
visit that Turkish-language schools and universities should be set
up in Germany.
And on Monday, they slammed him for his remarks in Cologne, with
Bavarian premier Guenther Beckstein accusing Erdogan of supporting
the "ghettoisation" of Turks in Germany.
"The task (for Turks) is to be good citizens in Germany, to learn
German, to speak German in their families," Beckstein told N24
television, calling the Turkish prime minister's remarks
"nationalistic" and "highly displeasing".
Tensions between Germans and Turks were stoked before Erdogan's
trip by a fire in a housing block in the western city of
Ludwigshafen which killed nine people with Turkish roots.
The cause of the blaze is unknown but the local Turkish community
and Turkish media have speculated it was racially motivated.
Erdogan visited the site on Thursday and called on police to clear up the case quickly.
