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Sena Alkan </li><li>
Updated : <span>09.12.2014 11:30:24</span> </li><li>Published : <span>09.12.2014 02:04:48</span></li></ul>
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<img id="NewsImagePath" src="http://i.tmgrup.com.tr/dailysabah/2014/12/09/HaberDetay/1418083480455.jpg" alt="German Turks slam compulsory migrant language policy" width="645px">
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<span class="">ISTANBUL —</span>
The sister party of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party in
Bavaria, the CSU, has come under fire after drafting a proposal
suggesting that migrants in Germany need to speak German both in public
and at home. Receiving harsh criticism from some German politicians,
German Turks and German citizens, the CSU back-pedalled from the
immigrant language policy.<br>
<br>
The draft policy paper states that "People who want to remain in Germany
on a permanent basis should be obliged to speak German both in public
and within the family." The CSU parliamentary leader Gerda Hasselfeldt
said that the party would have to rework the motion.<br>
<br>
"We have to think again a little bit about the formulation," she said,
but added that the basic idea contained in the motion was correct. The
draft whipped up a storm among German Turks, with most of them
describing the proposal as "anti-democratic and ridiculous." Half of
Turkey's expats live in Germany, with their numbers reaching 3 million -
constituting 3.7 percent of the Germany population.<br>
<br>
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, R.K., a Turkish citizen who was
born in Germany before returning back to Turkey to work, described the
draft as "ridiculous."<br>
<br>
"No one should decide which language people speak at home. This is a
violation of personal rights. As I remember, this kind of law was
applied in Turkey during the single party regime. They pushed citizens
to speak Turkish and banned Kurdish, and that move paved the way for the
outlawed PKK due to the pressure on the people," he said, adding that,
in reference to 3 million German Turks, this draft is an attack on
Turkish culture and a sign that Germany does not tolerate German Turks.
Esma Bilekkaya-Salih, a manager of a private company in Germany, said
that in some houses in Germany, family members speak four languages,
adding, "They are not aware how different their [Bavarian] dialect is as
well."<br>
<br>
Şebnem Klink-Zeren, a German Turk who works as a lawyer, said that the
draft paper is a joke and added, "But, it is a serious issue at the same
time. Both the German and the international media reacted harshly to
the draft. Politicians in different wings also stand against it." A
Turkish student, Rukayye Şimşek was born in Germany and has lived there
all her life, speaking both Turkish and German at home. In her opinion,
it is easy to hear that her spoken German is better than her Turkish.
She said that the draft is "completely ridiculous."<br>
<br>
Not only German Turks, but also German people reacted to the draft
paper. "The proposal from the CSU is a poor attempt to get votes from
very conservative and right-wing Germans. The CSU's voters are mostly
based in Bavaria, where many people speak with a very strong Bavarian
dialect, which is sometimes hard to understand, even for Germans. I'm
quite sure the CSU would never tell the Bavarian voters to stop speaking
Bavarian and start speaking German at home," said a German citizen
Daniel Krause, who lived in Berlin.<br>
<br>
Krause added, "In my opinion, this is totally wrong and no help at all
when it comes to trying to integrate immigrants into Germany. And it is
an offence to so many people, who learn the German language already."<br>
<br>
The proposal also fueled a heated debate on Twitter. A German-Turkish
girl, İlknur, said on her Twitter account: "I speak German, English,
Turkish, Kurdish & Arabic what about u CSU? Oh and Bavarian of
course."<br>
<br>
According to a report by the OECD, Germany is the main destination for
migrants among EU countries. While the increasing number of migrants
raises questions about how foreigners will integrate into Germany
society, the low birth rate and ageing population in the country pose a
risk to the economy. It is due to the this fact that Germany is
desperately in need of migrants to overcome its demographic crisis. <br>
<br>
On the other side of the coin, researchers in Germany stated that German
Turks in the country have started to forget about speaking Turkish
because they are exposed to German in their daily lives. According to
Erhan Temel, a Turkish academic in Germany, the language that German
Turks speak is "D-urkish" – a blend of Deutsch and Turkish — as they
make unconscious language switches while speaking.<br><br><a href="http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/12/09/german-turks-slam-compulsory-migrant-language-policy">http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/12/09/german-turks-slam-compulsory-migrant-language-policy</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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