Germany hosts the largest number of immigrants than any other country in Western Europe. There were more than 5.2 million foreigners living in Germany in 1990, rising to 6.8 million in 1993. By the end of 2000, the Federal Interior Ministry announced that 7.37 million foreigners were living in Germany. This constitutes 9 per cent of the total population. The largest group of foreigners is the Turks, with 2.11 million people, comprising the largest group of foreigners living in Germany today, which account for 28.0 percent of all resident foreigners.
More:The Muslim News - Turkish Muslims in Germany: At the centre or at the periphery? by Talip Küçükcan
Friday, April 28, 2006
The Muslim News - Turkish Muslims in Germany: At the centre or at the periphery? by Talip Küçükcan
Turks in Germany are no longer transitory gastarbeiter (guestworker) people, but de facto settlers in Germany, despite the dominant official political discourse, which constantly reiterates that Germany is not a country of immigration. The parameters of this political discourse are based on an ethnocentric interpretation of citizenship and nationhood in Germany, which emphasises ‘volknation’, a cultural nation, and leads to the political exclusion of ethnic minorities.