Karin Hunn

Asymmetrical Relationships: Turkish "Guest Workers" between the Native and the Foreign. From the German-Turkish Treaty concerning the Recruitment of Workers till the End of Recruitment (1961-1973)

The official recruitment of Turkish workers by the Federal Republic of Germany, a process which lasted twelve years, has developed into – as is well known – a process of immigration, which is still continuing today and which still represents a profound challenge to German politics and society. In answering the question, what are the special difficulties in integrating immigrants of Turkish background, one often refers all too simply to Islamic culture and religion. This essay attempts to look beyond than this mono-causal answer, and analyses how the cultural and religious differences between Turks and Germans, which in the early years were hardly thought about by German politicians and economic leaders, have, as time has passed, become increasingly strong boundaries, or lines of demarcation.

In answering these questions the author looks at some things which have received too little attention, such as the economic, social and political conditions in Turkey, and, related to this, the development from what was perceived at first to be a "guest worker" phase, with a limited time frame, to a process of immigration. This incorrect interpretation of the reality led to the fact that with the employment of Turkish workers in Western Germany the interests of the two countries increasingly drifted apart, without the corresponding political corrections concerning immigration being taken. The social deficits which came about as a result of this hurt above all the Turkish immigrants, who to a large degree were left to fend for themselves, who were unable to develop a clear perspective for the future, and who slowly but surely developed a "Diaspora" consciousness, which was fed by national, that is, ethnic, cultural and religious differences, and which led to a stronger emphasis on these ethnic, cultural and religious characteristics.