My trip to Cologne last week went well. Even though many DITIB workers were away on holiday I managed to interview DITIB’s general secretary, Mehmet Yildirim, and DITIB’s director of interfaith dialogue, Bekir Alboga. I also met again briefly with Ridvan Cakir, DITIB’s outgoing president. Although everyone was super busy and only had 3-days notice [...]
Entries from July 2006 ↓
Cologne, Bonn, and Essen
July 31st, 2006 — DITIB, Research in Germany
Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
July 31st, 2006 — Blogging, Personal
I am alive and well in Istanbul. I just couldn’t get my laptop connected to the internet until today when we found an internet cafe in the neighborhood with a spare network connection (dial-up wasn’t working from home). The owner was really cool and offered to let me connect from the quiet of his own [...]
Muslims in Germany Receive Threat Letters
July 31st, 2006 — DITIB, Turkish immigrants
A few hours before I flew to Turkey I was in the office at my neighborhood DITIB mosque talking to the son of the religious attache. I had run into Metin (not his real name) a couple times before, but this was our first chance to sit down and have a conversation by ourselves.
There were [...]
Closing up shop in Berlin
July 23rd, 2006 — Personal
Today was my last full day in Berlin. I’m flying to Cologne early tomorrow morning to visit DITIB headquarters and hopefully the Foundation Center for Studies on Turkey in Essen. I’ll be back in Berlin late Tuesday night and then it’s off to Istanbul on Wednesday.
I might not be able to update this site [...]
A life-time of discrimination and disrespect
July 23rd, 2006 — Turkish immigrants
Yesterday I had a long chat with a Turkish migrant about how he had been discriminated against by Germans over the 33 years he’s been living in Berlin. For all this talk about Turks and Germans living in parallel worlds, it was a disheartening reminder that worlds do collide and sometimes it’s not very pretty.
Osman [...]
Please Let Me Learn German
July 21st, 2006 — Turkish immigrants
“Immigrants must learn German!” is a rallying cry heard throughout Germany these days. But what kind of policies are in place to bring this about? The imam I spoke with on Wednesday told me he tried to take a German course in Berlin but was denied the opportunity. The rules were being followed, but to [...]
Israel vs. Hezbollah in Berlin
July 21st, 2006 — Personal
One aspect of my stay in Berlin that I haven’t written about yet is all the Arab immigrants I’ve met. My first real acquaintance in Berlin was a Palestinian student at the Free University who works at a local falafel restaurant. Later I met a young Palestinian guy on the bus who tested my Arabic [...]