80% of German Turks Feel Discriminated Against

Five years ago, only 65 percent of the estimated 2.1 million Turks in Germany felt they were being treated as second-class citizens compared to 80 percent in 2004, said the study released Friday, November 26, by the Turkish Studies Center in the Rhein region.

It warned that such discrimination could push the community members into isolations and a ghetto life.

The study, meanwhile, refuted media-propagated claims that German Turks are enclosing themselves in specific districts.

Four thirds of Turks are living in German-populated neighborhoods, while only 20 percent reside in mainly Turkish areas, it indicated.

In addition, one-third of the German Turks are members of Turkish and German NGOs and societies.

Of the some 3.4 million Muslims in Germany, an estimated two thirds are of Turkish origin.

German Minister of Economics and Labor Wolfgang Clement said in June that the 12-billion-euro Turkish investments in a variety of economic and service fields are boosting the national economy.

He said that Turkish investments help create 300,000 new jobs for Germans a year.

Good Terms

The study further showed that the Turkish community has come along way in improving its relations with the German people.

Some 90 percent of the German Turks are in good terms with fellow Germans and one third of the Turkish families has good relations, including blood ties, with Germans.

However, a parallel study conducted by the state-run channel 2 said that 80 percent of the German people believe foreigners were doing little to integrate into society.

Last week, Germany has proposed an action plan to fight extremism and promote Muslim integration into society.

“Claims that Islam is unmatchable with the German constitution are groundless and run counter to spirit of pluralism,” said Integration Minister Marieluise Beck, who unveiled the 20-point plan.

The parallel study also showed that 52 percent of Germans believe that there was more than enough foreigners living in their country.

Forty-three percent of the respondents, however, approved of the number of foreigners.

According to 2003 estimates of the Federal Census Office, there are 7.3 million foreigners in Germany out of the country’s 82.5 million population.