When Germany and Turkey meet tomorrow on the field it will not be just another soccer match but one which reflects deep socio-political connections between the two countries largely though the prism of the 2.5 million people of Turkish ethnicity living in Germany.
Tomorrow’s match raises to the fore, the heated issue of German attempts at Turkish integration and its success. Both countries will get to see Hamit Altintop and Hakan Balta, German born players of Turkish ethnicity, who have opted to play for their country of origin. This is the first major clash between the two countries, and on the eve of the match, many on the political left believe that the two players chose to play for Turkey because assimilation has not gone far enough. Politicians from the right tout Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski as success stories in German integration, which seems to be a bit of a stretch, given that they come from Poland, a neighbouring country, where German is the second language.
The answer lies in the way Germany set about ignoring the citizenship claims of hundreds of thousands of Turkish guest workers invited by Germany in the post World War II reconstruction phase, once they settled down, learned the language, began families, and started the process of assimilation. Germany then shut down the guest worker program in the early 70s and then tried to get rid of the existing workers, even giving them cash awards to return. The immigration laws were not very kind to the subsequent generations also leaving the status of German born Turks in limbo.
German laws till very recently, did not grant citizenship to children of foreign born parents, even as German Turks enter their third generation. In fact, only about 30% of the population have been granted citizenship. New federal laws passed in 2000 under Gerhard Schroeder sped up the process of naturalization but left it up to the state to decide on how immigrants were perceived to uphold the constitution. The southern state of Baden Wurttemberg now requires that potential citizens from Muslim countries answer questions pertaining to their cultural beliefs, grounds for disqualification if they are anathema to Western tenets. The large Turkish population in that state sees this as racist and discriminatory, and a further obstacle to their integration.
More recently, tensions between Angela Merkel and Tayyip Erdogan flared up over rules which increase the bar on family re-unification. Turks joining their families have to now learn basic Deutsch. This marginalizes families from more remote regions of Turkey where German classes are not readily available.
Erdogan’s visit wih Merkel came at a time when German – Turkish community relations were already at a low ebb. A fire had killed nine Turks, five of them children, in the German state of Hesse. It was widely suspected but not proven to be a hate crime. Erdogan to allay Turkish fears, in a populist speech, exhorted the Turkish community to remain aloof from German society and to take pride in Turkish culture and its language. To many Germans, already suspicious of Muslims following 9/11, it appeared that Erdogan, a devout Islamist, was fueling the feeling of alienation which many Turks publicly acknowledge. His first visit ended with widespread condemnation by the German media. The talk of attending Turkish language schools should be seen in the context of German dismay with the erosion of its world rankings in reading and math largely because of the poor performance of its “migration background” children. This illustrates the quintessential Turkish conundrum. In order to assimilate, the Turks learn German, the benefits of which have not paid off in terms of citizenship, higher education or employment. Germany nationalists are quick to blame the Turks for their country’s high unemployment rate, increasing crime, and falling educational standards. However, embracing the Turkish language and culture, would be perceived as reactionary, the genesis of a parallel culture which many Germans see as responsible for breeding radical Islam.
It is not just Germany’s foot-dragging of the immigration issue that has disenchanted millions of Turks in Germany but also the larger issue of Turkey’s integration into the EU. Angela Merkel and the CDU want a more diluted version of full membership, in which Turkey will be accorded special privileges, with cultural and economic caveats.
Even Hamit Altintop acknowledges that this is not just a soccer match, its implications are far more significant, and that he dances a delicate dance.
“It will be a very special game for me,” Altintop said. “I have Germany to thank for a lot — actually for everything…. I would be very happy if every fan were to see Wednesday’s game as a huge folk festival between the two countries. Regardless of the result, the game is an excellent opportunity to take another step toward the much-discussed goal of integration.”
I don’t think German fans will be so sanguine if he scores the winning goal. In soccer, rationalization is best left to managers and pundits.