Meeting with Ekin Deligöz, Member of German Parliament

Today I had my first meeting with a German politician.  Ekin Deligöz has been a member of parliament for the Green Party since 1998 and has focused on child and family policies.  On top of that, she is originally from Turkey, so this interview was especially insightful because she knows immigration issues inside and out.

One of the subjects we discussed was the official discourse about migration in recent years.  She pointed out that when politicians discuss immigration they almost always speak in terms of limiting, restricting, halting, etc.  While that might be understandable given unemployment and national security concerns in Germany, there is no corresponding language aimed at welcoming or including the migrants already living here.  Lo and behold, it seems that the negative language directed toward potential migrants ends up framing the conversation about current migrants (though I’m sure there’s a chicken-and-egg aspect to this). 

A recent example of this was how the media reported on schools in a district of Berlin where 80-90% of the students are Turkish and violence in the schools is increasing.  According to Ms. Deligöz, politicians and the media focused on what can be done for the poor German students in these schools, rather than on what the migrants might need.  Her comment reminded me of what Hüseyin Midik told me about German schools not providing appropriate products for Turkish consumers, but it was even more jarring because it implied that Turks might get left out of the equation altogether (to mix metaphors).

What got us talking about this was my question whether Turkish religious and cultural practices in Germany are quite different from those in Turkey.  Absolutely, she said, and part of the reason they’re changing is that some Turks in Germany fear their culture and values are under attack.  For example, many Germans criticize Turkish migrants for not being liberal enough when it comes to letting their daughters attain higher degrees, work outside the house, or date.  Turkish parents, in turn, see this criticism as disrespectful and wind up considering German society a threat to their cultural traditions (which might not have included restricting their daughters’ every move).  In the interest of protecting their daughters from this hostile society, what do they do?  They keep them at home.  It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Ms. Deligöz suggests that a “politics of welcome” could have prevented some of the move toward the religious right among Turkish migrants, but she wasn’t without criticism for Turks.  In her experience, Turks have had trouble gaining political traction in Germany because they haven’t learned the German way of doing politics.  She described this way as very direct and to the point, with politicians able to argue and shout at each other, “I don’t like your face!” (which reminds me of a line from Waiting for Guffman), and then sit down for tea afterwards.  Turks tend to be indirect and extremely polite…and that just doesn’t cut the mustard here in Germany. 

We covered quite a few topics, but I just wanted to mention these today.  I should also say that Ms. Deligöz’s student intern, Belgin, joined us and shared some of her experiences as a Berlin native and the child of Turkish migrants.  I look forward to hearing more of her insight later on, including stories of Islamic fundamentalists and downward-leveling pressures in the Turkish community.