Germany stands firm on country's integration policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Germany stands firm on country's integration policy
Wednesday, February 6, 2008

German Interior Minister Schauble assures Ankara that his government
sincerely intends to resolve integration problems faced by immigrant
groups in Germany including the Turks

FULYA ÖZERKAN
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


  A Turkish immigrant made the opening speech at a meeting late Monday
in the headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
where the guest of honor, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble,
raised the issue of integration of nearly 2.5 million Turks in
Germany.   The AKP's immigrant member, whose family moved to
Switzerland in the 1960s, first started her speech in Turkish and
continued in German, a deliberate move to highlight a milestone in the
integration process: Learning the language that is laid down as a
precondition to enjoying equal opportunity both in schools and the
labor force.

  "Integration is not tantamount to assimilation," said Schauble,
while emphasizing the need to harmonize with the parent country
without denying one's roots. He said integration did not mean living
alongside one another but living together in peace and participating
in social life outside.   Berlin has been spending extra time and
energy on the integration issue since Chancellor Angela Merkel came to
power in 2005. The Interior Ministry has allocated 155 million euros
for German language courses alone.   But a set of controversial rules
introduced by Merkel's ruling Christian Democratic Union drew harsh
criticism from immigrant groups in Germany particularly from Turks.
Under the new legislation, spouses of non-EU nationals may only join
their partners if they demonstrate a basic knowledge of the German
language. The law makes German courses mandatory, with fines levied
against those who refuse to take them.

  Schauble's two-day meetings with Turkish officials and the speech he
delivered at the AKP headquarters revealed that Germany would not back
off from the much-criticized immigration law. The visiting minister,
very much aware of Ankara's concerns and complaints, tried to convince
the Turkish side that his government sincerely intended to resolve the
integration problem and that the implementation of the law remained to
be seen.   "This law proves we are not generating empty talk but
action," said Schauble.

  A flurry of questions were flung at the German minister with one of
the audience members saying that Berlin's stance was as if the Sept.
11 attacks occurred not in the United States but in Germany, alluding
to hostile practices in some German states that target Muslim
immigrants.



Koch's racist campaign blasted

  Last month, the prime minister of the German state of Hesse, Roland
Koch from Merkel's CDU, launched an emotionally explosive election
campaign, demanding tougher actions against immigrants. But playing
the immigrant card did not bring success to the CDU, which was
defeated by the Social Democrats.   Schauble said he personally did
not take the election rhetoric seriously and underlined that Hesse was
one of the leading German states where integration efforts first
kicked off. He hinted that the CDU failure in this state would not
trigger a change in the party's policies of handling the immigrants'
problems in dialogue with the regional states.

  Annual Islamic conferences constitute another part of Germany's
national integration plan aimed at establishing communication with all
Muslim communities. One participant of the conference harshly
criticized this policy and argued that Turkey was not an Islamic
republic but Schauble said his government must keep in contact with
all the Muslim groups, regardless of their sects in Islam.

  "3.5 million Muslims live in Germany and we cannot distinguish
between religious communities in Islam," he added.   The meeting that
lasted for more than an hour provided some sort of an interaction
between AKP officials including lawmakers and the German minister, who
had the chance to see the reactions to certain policies of his
government toward immigrants.   Schauble stood firm on the urgency of
the integration issue and said Germany's success would be in Turkey's
interest because the immigrants abroad represented the image of
Turkey.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=95648


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