School integration

German officials have rejected calls by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to introduce Turkish schools in Germany.

"In Turkey, we have German high schools - why shouldn't there be Turkish high schools in Germany?" Erdogan asked in an interview with German weekly Die Zeit.

Erdogan said that many of the almost three million people of Turkish origin living in Germany had problems with both languages, and offering education in Turkish might also help their German.

"Germany has not yet caught up with the times," Erdogan said. "One must first have a firm command of one's own language, that is to say, Turkish, and that is unfortunately rarely the case."

The federal government's integration commissioner, Maria Boehmer, acknowledged the advantage pupils might gain if they could be fluent in two languages, but said learning German should take priority.

"Only those who know German have a chance of social advancement," Boehmer, a Christian Democrat, told the daily Berliner Zeitung.

The head of the Christian Democratic Party's German-Turkish forum in North-Rhine Westphalia was also skeptical. "Turkish secondary schools are a dead end for students," Buelent Arslan told the daily Koelner Stadtanzeiger.

"To be successful in Germany, a good level of German is essential," Arslan added.

Tensions ahead of Merkel visit

The General Secretary of the Christian Democrat's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, said that Erdogan was trying to use Turkish people in Germany to further his own political purposes.

"Such demands are an affront in the run-up to his visit with our Chancellor Angela Merkel," Alexander Dobrindt told Spiegel Online.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is due in Ankara next Monday for a two-day visit. Her relationship with Erdogan is problematic, as Germany does not favor full EU membership for Turkey, calling for a 'privileged partnership' instead. Turkey has repeatedly rejected anything but full membership in the bloc.

In Berlin, which has the largest Turkish community in Germany, the Council for Education said the acquisition of Turkish language was not necessarily conducive to integration. It is the knowledge of German that counts, and often, Turks in Germany struggle to find skilled jobs because of a lack of good German, according to the Council.

It also pointed out that there are already Turkish grammar schools in Germany, but they are privately funded.

Some support

Erdogan's comments found little support in the German media, but an editorial by daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung sees some merit in Erdogan's suggestion.

The newspaper pointed out that if more French schools were to be built in Germany, it would be hailed as a symbol of Franco-German friendship. But Germany seems to have a problem with the Turkish language. It does not "count for much", according to Sueddeutsche.

Many companies are desperate to hire people with multiple language skills, so not giving Turks the opportunity to study their language in-depth, was a "missed opportunity", the paper claimed.

No dual citizenship

Erdogan also criticized the fact that Germany does not allow dual citizenship unless the additional country is a member of the EU.

"I find it regrettable that Germany is among the countries in the EU that does not allow dual citizenship," he told Die Zeit.

A child of foreign parents can only obtain dual citizenship if one parent has lived in Germany regularly for at least eight years. But, at age 23, the child needs to choose one nationality.

Erdogan is no stranger to provocation. In a speech in Cologne in 2008, Erdogan said Turks in Germany cannot be expected to 'assimilate' and deny their Turkish identity. The comments were seen by many as a direct criticism of how Germany treats people of Turkish origin.

svs/ng/dpa/apn/AFP
Editor: Matt Hermann