Neglect's costs: Turkish integration in Germany.

The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 exacerbated a labor shortage in West Germany. In response, the Federal Republic decided to include Turkey in its foreign worker recruitment program. In the following years, Turks were allowed into Germany as guest workers with the expectation that their stay would be temporary.

Today, Turks are the largest ethnic minority in Germany, constituting 2.4 percent of the population. They also form a large part of the growing Muslim presence in Germany. Owing to a change in nationality laws in 1999, many are now German citizens, but natives and immigrants continue to clash. Unfortunately, the small-scale nature of recent integration initiatives suggests that the German government fails to recognize the deep roots of this problem.

The task's difficulty results partly from longstanding native opposition to immigration, which has left Germany ill-equipped to deal with integration problems. Turkish Germans suffer from obstacles common to immigrants, including the language barrier, a lower economic starting point, and racism. In 1993, Science reported that Turkish teenagers were eight times less likely to attend university than were their German counterparts. Even now, Turks tend to live in all-immigrant, lower-income communities feared by native Germans as crime zones. Sadly, this perception is sometimes quite close to reality, and it lends lamentable support to prejudices. A study by the Bavarian police reported in April 1998 that crime rates among foreigners between the ages of 14 and 17 tended to be three times higher than that among native Germans.

Gangs are a particularly problematic source of German fears. In 2003, a gang of mostly Turkish immigrant schoolboys was accused, and the majority convicted, of organized violence against German classmates. One local politician was reported in the Daily Telegraph as saying that Turkish communities themselves produced violent children, citing in particular a Turkish culture of machismo. Such prejudiced views of cultural differences only worsen the integration problem, and, unfortunately, the violence between Germans and Turks is not only one-way. In May 1993, five Turks died at the hands of neo-Nazi arsonists. Sadly, neither the example of gang violence against Germans nor the incidences of racially motivated attacks against Turks are uncommon.

Conflict between Turkish and native Germans is the brutal consequence of neglect of the integration problem and highlights the need for change. Perhaps the best effort yet--though not directly addressing the Turkish problem--has been the German government's recently initiated two-year program of enhanced effort toward Muslim integration, which began with a conference with Muslim leaders in September 2006. Goals include setting up three committees for the discussion of various issues surrounding integration. The initiative, however, is lacking in concrete details and is not sufficient to address Turkish integration. Decades of governmental neglect have made German fears about their immigrant neighbors self-fulfilling. Barred from becoming fully accepted members of the community by racism, economic distress, and, until recently, nationality laws and language barriers, teenage Turks roam the streets in all-immigrant gangs, increasing German fear and suspicion.

Alienated Muslim youths are considered by scholars and policymakers alike to be the primary source of homegrown terrorism. Germany, therefore, must make integrating Turkish communities a top priority. Efforts by both sides must go beyond the cosmetic if either side wishes to see the desired results. The process will be painful, but without decisive action, the Turkish integration problem will only continue to fester.

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associate editor

HEATHER HORN