I’ve traveled to Germany a couple of times from Turkey and what a contrast it is to go back and forth between the two countries. The municipality of Izmir makes a huge effort to kept the city tidy, at least near the bay where we are, but it’s still way different from the German’s version of tidy, with bathrooms in public places as the exception (see our earlier blog “We finally found one…”). My own, only slightly informed opinion is that littering just doesn’t seem to be taboo or carry a stigma in Turkey and of course in Munich it’s unthinkable.
More importantly, differences such as these are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the anti-Turk, anti-Islam sentiments that are running high throughout Europe. Germany is no exception and even Chancellor Angela Merkel a few days ago came out and said “multi-culturalism” is not working. This of course has the Turks bristling since in their eyes they do the jobs in Germany that Germans don’t want to do. Furthermore, the flip side of the total integration coin is losing one’s cultural identity.
Remember reading in high school civics class about the utopian societies from the late 19th century? I have no firsthand experience even though my kids are sure I was alive then but it seems that a lot of the friction between Germans and Turks at least on the surface has to do with 1) Turks who work but don’t integrate, 2) immigrants who don’t work but come to the country and immediately avail themselves of the generous social services that Germany has to offer. Greatly oversimplified, Germany’s utopian ideal is that the German culture will remain unadulterated and that everyone will be like-minded enough to work hard even at the unpleasant jobs and only fall back on the social net in the case of extreme conditions. Since most of the folks doing the low end jobs come from and live in extreme conditions it seems like a catch 22 for both sides.
Note to Germany and its politicians: don't completely alienate the folks who are doing the dirty jobs unless you have a backup plan. Your need for cheap labor carries a social and cultural price tag.
Back in our au pair days - we had 3 from Germany (2 of whom we are very close to this day). But they had a steady stream of commentary/jokes about the Turkish people - all along the lines of what you describe here. Very utopian indeed.
ReplyDeleteThought of you all this morning. On WIP (after a horrendous Philadelphia sports weekend), senator Arlen Spector called in from, of all places, Turkey. He wanted to bemoan the terrible Philly teams performance. And he did. He also worked in that he had met with the Turkish foreign minister. Angelo Cataldi asked Senator Spector if the Turkish foreign minister had any insight as to why Ryan Howard looked at strike 3 to end the season. He did not.
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