In 1961, in the midst of an economic boom that resulted in a significant labor shortage, Germany signed a bilateral agreement with Turkey to allow German companies to recruit Turkish workers.
[10] The earliest documented Turk in Germany is believed to be Sadok Seli Soltan [de] (Mehmet Sadık Selim Sultan) (ca.1270-1328) from the Anatolian Seljuk lands.
By 1304 Soltan married Rebekka Dohlerin; he was baptised the following year as "Johann Soldan", but "out of special love to him", the Count "gave him a Turkish nobility coat of arms".
[14] For example, through his maternal grandmother, the renowned German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe belonged to the descendants of the Soldan family and thus had Turkish ancestry.
For example, in 1731, the Duke of Kurland presented twenty Turkish guardsmen to King Frederick William I, and at one time, about 1,000 Muslim soldiers are said to have served in the Prussian cavalry.
By 1740 Frederick the Great stated that: "All religions are just as good as each other, as long as the people who practice them are honest, and even if Turks and heathens came and wanted to populate this country, then we would build mosques and temples for them.
The exchange, which was intended as a vocational training measure and began for some of the group as apprentices at the Ford plant in Cologne, became the starting point for their immigration to the Federal Republic for some.
[48] The political rhetoric calling for foreigner-free zones (Ausländer-freie Zonen) and the rise of neo-Nazi groups sharpened public awareness of integration issues and generated intensified support among liberal Germans for the competing idea of Germany as a "multicultural" society.
In particular, Turkish Bulgarians who did not join the massive migration wave to Turkey during the so-called "Revival Process" faced severe economic disadvantages and discrimination resulting from the state policies of Bulgarisation.
[60] Whilst many Western Thrace Turks had intended to return to Greece after working for a number of years, a new Greek law was introduced which effectively forced the minority to remain in Germany.
[65] Between 2002 and 2011 there was a significant decrease in the population of the Turkish Romanian minority group due to the admission of Romania into the European Union and the subsequent relaxation of the travelling and migration regulations.
[97][98][99][100][101] Jytte Klausen cited German statistics in 2005 showing 2.4 million Turks, but acknowledged that unlike Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, the Turkish community cannot allocate their ethnic or religious identity in official counts.
The vast majority are found in the former West Germany, particularly in industrial regions such as the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (where a third of Turkish Germans live),[102] and Baden-Württemberg and the working-class neighbourhoods of cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Bochum, Bonn, Cologne, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hanover, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Mainz, Nuremberg, Munich, Stuttgart, Aachen and Wiesbaden.
By the early 1990s a new sociolect called Kanak Sprak or Türkendeutsch was coined by the Turkish-German author Feridun Zaimoğlu to refer to the German "ghetto" dialect spoken by the Turkish youth.
However, with the developing formation of a Turkish middle class in Germany, there is an increasing number of people of Turkish-origin who are proficient in using the standard German language, particularly in academia and the arts.
[citation needed] A series of arson attacks, bombings, and shootings have targeted the Turkish community in both public and private spaces, such as in their homes, cultural centres, and businesses.
[132][133] On 9 March 1993, Mustafa Demiral [de], aged 56, was attacked by two members of the German anti-immigrant political party "The Republicans" whilst waiting at a bus stop in Mülheim.
The Hannoversche Allgemeine newspaper claimed that the Osmanen Germania is advancing more and more into red-light districts, which increases the likelihood of a bloody territorial battle with established gangs like the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
[145] The first phase in Turkish-German Cinema began in the 1970s and lasted through to the 1980s; it involved writers placing much of their attention on story-lines that represented the living and working conditions of the Turkish immigrant workers in Germany.
[150] Similarly, other recent Turkish-German comedies like Meine verrückte türkische Hochzeit (Kiss me Kismet [de], 2006), starring Hilmi Sözer, Ercan Özçelik, Aykut Kayacık, and Özay Fecht, and the film Evet, I Do!
[159] In 2005 Tevfik Başer's book Zwischen Gott und Erde ("Time of Wishes") was turned into a primetime TV German movie starring Erhan Emre, Lale Yavaş, Tim Seyfi, and Hilmi Sözer, and won the prestigious Adolf Grimme Prize.
Whilst Turkish-origin journalists are still underrepresented, several have made successful careers as reporters and TV presenters including Erkan Arikan [de][168] and Nazan Eckes.
For example, numerous actors and actresses in Muhteşem Yüzyıl were born in Germany, including Meryem Uzerli,[169] Nur Fettahoğlu,[170] Selma Ergeç,[171] and Ozan Güven.
[175] Some of the most notable writers of Turkish origin in Germany include Akif Pirinçci,[175] Alev Tekinay,[175] Emine Sevgi Özdamar,[175] Feridun Zaimoğlu,[175] Necla Kelek,[175] Renan Demirkan,[175] and Zafer Şenocak.
Consequently, by the end of the 1960s, some Turks in Germany began to produce their own music, such as Metin Türköz [de] who took up themes of the Turkish immigration journey and their working conditions.
[182] Thereafter, a competition and group was formed called Die Stimme einer neuen Ära/Yeni neslin sesi ("The voice of the new generation") to find new Turkish-German talent and "Sen de bizdensin" was re-released with different lyrics.
[185] Several Turkish-origin singers born in Germany have also launched their careers in Turkey, such as Akın Eldes,[186] Aylin Aslım,[187] Doğuş [tr],[188] İsmail YK,[189] Ozan Musluoğlu,[190] Pamela Spence,[191] and Tarkan.
The first person of Turkish descent to play for the Germany national football team was Mehmet Scholl in 1993,[200] followed by Mustafa Doğan in 1999 and Malik Fathi in 2006.
Those who have chosen to retain their Turkish citizenship and who have competed for Turkey include Cenk Tosun,[201] Ceyhun Gülselam,[201] Gökhan Töre,[203] Hakan Balta,[200] Hakan Çalhanoğlu,[203] Halil Altıntop,[200] Hamit Altıntop,[200] İlhan Mansız,[204] Nuri Şahin,[200] Ogün Temizkanoğlu,[204] Olcay Şahan,[203] Mehmet Ekici,[201] Serhat Akin,[201] Tayfun Korkut,[204] Tayfur Havutçu,[204] Tunay Torun,[201] Ümit Davala,[204] Umit Karan,[204] Volkan Arslan,[201] Yıldıray Baştürk,[204] Yunus Mallı,[203] Kaan Ayhan, Ahmed Kutucu, Levin Öztunalı, Kenan Karaman, Ömer Toprak, Salih Özcan, Nazim Sangaré, Güven Yalçın, Berkay Özcan and Hasan Ali Kaldırım.
[212] Five MPs of Turkish-origin were elected from the SPD party including Aydan Özoğuz, Cansel Kiziltepe, Gülistan Yüksel, Metin Hakverdi and Mahmut Özdemir.