Turks in Germany

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Image:Flag of the Germany-Turks.png

German Turks (also commonly Turkish Germans) are Germans of Turkish descent with varying identity as part of a wider German society and who maintain a connection to the Turkish sociology, through cultural and historical affiliation.

With an estimated number of 2.6 million <ref>http://www.tusiad.org/haberler/basin/ab/9.pdf TUSIAD Report on Turks in the European Union, compiled from Eurostat and German Federal Office of Statistics figures</ref><ref>http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/14/news/turks.php International Herald Tribune article</ref> Turkish people in Germany (including those who have acquired German citizenship) form the largest ethnic minority. An estimated one million of them have acquired German nationality <ref>http://www.tusiad.org/haberler/basin/ab/9.pdf TUSIAD Report on Turks in the European Union, compiled from Eurostat and German Federal Office of Statistics figures</ref>. The vast majority are found in what used to be West Germany. Berlin, Frankfurt,Hamburg, Rhine-Ruhr (Cologne, Duisberg and Dortmund) have large Turkish communities. The state with the largest Turkish population is North Rhine-Westphalia. Though Turks predominantly live in cities, large populations exist in some rurals regions of Germany, especially in Baden-Württemberg, Hessen and North-Rhine Westphalia. The Döner kebab, a Turkish food, is the most popular fast food in Germany.

1 History
2 Famous German Turks
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Image:Turkisch-day-in-Berlin.jpg

Based on good Turkish-German relations from the 19th century onwards, Germany promoted a Turkish immigration to Germany. However, large scale didn't occur until the 20th century. Germany suffered an acute labor shortage after World War II and, in 1961, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) officially invited Turkish workers to Germany to fill in this void, particularly to work in the factories that helped fuel Germany's economic miracle. The German authorities named these people Gastarbeiter (German for guest workers). Most Turks in Germany trace their ancestry to Central and Eastern Anatolia. Today Turks are Germany's largest ethnic minority and form most of Germany's Muslim minority.

As far as political affiliation is concerned, Turkish Germans are overwhelmingly supportive of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. A survey following the 2005 Federal election revealed that close to 90% voted for Gerhard Schröder's SPD/Green alliance.