Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks prior to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Turkey, calling for the establishment of Turkish high schools in Germany, was one of the most important agenda items during the chancellor’s two-day visit.
Erdogan made the call for Turkish high schools in Germany to help better integrate Germany’s 3-million-strong Turkish immigrant community. In remarks before her visit Merkel rejected Erdogan’s suggestion; however, she softened her stance while in Turkey and said there could be Turkish schools in Germany but that this should not mean that the Turks in Germany do not need to learn German.
Many think Erdogan’s proposal has revealed an unjust situation in Germany and that Merkel only paid this visit to Turkey due to demands from German business and foreign affairs circles.
Yeni Safak s Fehmi Koru thinks it is a double standard having high schools providing education in German in Turkey while high schools providing Turkish education in Germany are not possible.
He says the German education system has been infected by an attitude of double standards as many young Turkish people in Germany have difficulty in finding jobs or are exposed to discrimination in the workplace. “In the past, there were governments in Turkey that did not care about the problems of the immigrant Turks in Germany, left them to their fate and pursued a policy based on the satisfaction of Berlin.
Today’s Turkey is one that can ask the question ‘Why’ about the discrimination its citizens are faced with. I hope Merkel knows that she has come to a Turkey which is very different from that of the past,” adds Koru.
According to Bugün’s Erhan Basyurt, the real aim of the German government in opposing the establishment of Turkish schools in the country is its intention to assimilate Turks, not to integrate them into German society. “That’s why Erdogan’s call for Turkish high schools in Germany is getting on their nerves. It has produced an unexpectedly strong reaction,” says Basyurt. He calls Merkel’s change of position a common-sense attitude and notes that Erdogan’s proposal has helped many to see an unjust practice in Germany. “Germany prohibits Turkish schools in the country, but Turkey even allows a German university here; this cannot be explained simply by double standards,” says Ba?yurt.
Focusing on the reasons for Merkel’s visit to Turkey, Star’s Ibrahim Kiras says there are two reasons behind Merkel’s visiting Turkey after five years. One of the reasons, according to Kiras, is the German business circles’ wish to show a greater interest in Turkey, which has become the world’s 16th largest economy.
When the German industry need for energy resources is taken into consideration, says Kiras, Turkey’s effectiveness on the energy routes and its share in joint energy projects like Nabucco call for an improvement in political relations between the two. The second reason for Merkel’s visit, in Kiras’ view, is the German foreign affairs and defense’s desire to have closer relations with Turkey. “Because it is less likely for a country to have influence in the region without cooperating with Turkey, which has become a regional power and global actor thanks to its foreign policy,” Kiras suggests.
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