euro|topics - The controversy in Germany over integration and assimilation

Main focus of Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The controversy in Germany over integration and assimilation

A speech held by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sparked a discussion about German integration policy. Erdogan described assimilation as "a crime against humanity". What does Erdogan want and what is this debate really about?..

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

"Erdogan's visit and the reactions to the tragic fire in Ludwigshafen have reminded us once again that only part of the Turkish minority shares the new-found German enthusiasm for integration," writes Eric Gujer. "At the same time the renewed flaring up of the integration debate has shown how heterogeneous the Turkish community in Germany has become. Various representatives of Turkish associations asked to speak and eloquently stated their views, with most of them calling for a broad measure of integration. Fifteen years ago there were relatively few representatives of this kind - and most of them regarded themselves as champions of Turkish state interests. Nowadays there is a wide spectrum of influential people, including writers and intellectuals, whose views range from moderate Islamist to radically secular and who receive a hearing among the majority society. Ten years ago there were no audible German-Turkish voices that would have been capable of eliciting a response in an intellectual debate." (13/02/2008)

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

The word "assimiliation" may have been wrongly used in Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speech but it nonetheless addressed the problem of unsuccessful integration, Thomas Steinfeld believes. "The terms 'asssimilation' and 'integration' are actually easy to define: 'integration' means bringing together those who are different, whereby their differentness remains recognisable. 'Assimilation', on the other hand means the integration of the uprooted, their homogenisation. But no one in this country is demanding this, which makes the whole debate rather uncanny. ... It is quite likely that Erdogan spoke out against 'assimilation' because he does not want to relinquish hold on those Turks living in Germany. And thus it really cannot be ruled out that his concern for this Diaspora relieves him of the burden of other conflicts, above all the paradox that Turkey is demanding of the Kurds in its own country exactly the assimilation that it does not wish to tolerate in Germany." (13/02/2008)

Trouw - Netherlands

The daily considers that the statements made by Erdogan reinforce "the image of immigrant communities that don't want to integrate. ... There is no country in western Europe that has seriously considered the complete assimilation of its minorities. Conservation of cultural and/or religious identity is a key value of European democracy. Our countries do not aim for the invisibility of indivuals in a homogenous society . The countries that still suppress the rights of minorities - such as Turkey with the Kurds - are rightly frowned upon by Europe. ... Integration of migrants, especially Muslim migrants, is now an extraordinarily sensitive subject in western Europe, and the debate is often tense. ... In view of this sensitiveness, Erdogan would have been better advised, as PM of Turkey, to refrain from giving Turkish Germans such a clear indication of how to behave in their host country." (13/02/2008)

Népszabadság - Hungary

The newspaper's Germany correspondent András Dési comments on Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's speech in Cologne: "It may sound rather bizarre, but Erdogan has actually done German politicians a favour. The Turkish leader knows full well that German conservatives reject the idea of Turkey joining the EU. The message of the Cologne spectacle is that although political objections and excuses can be found to put obstacles in Turkey's way, economically Turkey has in fact been integrated in the EU for some time, and the presence of more than 5.3 million Turks (some calculations even put the figure at 15 million) in the countries of the EU is a fact of life. The döner is here to stay in the everyday lives of Germans and western Europeans, even if many still find it rather indigestible." (13/02/2008)

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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