Türkiye | Adventure Almanya – when the first Turks came

One of the particularly inconspicuous objects is a cassette box. A Turkish couple once kept so-called audio letters there that their daughter, who initially stayed behind in Turkey with relatives, had spoken for them. “It was a very popular means of communication,” explains Kocatürk-Schuster. “It was discussed like a letter, but you could also sing, recite poems or send greetings.” Sometimes it took months until a long-awaited audio letter finally arrived.

This Friday (October 30th) marks the 65th anniversary of the conclusion of the German-Turkish recruitment agreement. It is a treaty that has changed Germany like no other. Similar agreements had previously been concluded with Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Yugoslavia - but that was still not enough.

The young Federal Republic struggled with a shortage of workers because the low birth rate from the Second World War came into effect in the early 1960s. The expansion of the Bundeswehr also took young men away from the job market. The federal government did not see the recruited workers as immigrants, but rather as guest workers.

The journey in special trains from Istanbul to Germany initially took 50 to 55 hours. Many of the travelers imagined that they would be welcomed into a beautiful hall with music - Germany was the country of classical music. They started the Almanya adventure with great expectations. 

In many cases, the first thing the newcomers actually saw was a cellar - the former air raid shelter under platform 11 in Munich Central Station. The Federal Employment Agency had set up a “forwarding point” there. 

The respective companies were responsible for accommodating the foreign workers. They used barracks, factory halls or bunkers, some of which were fenced in with barbed wire. Life there was highly regulated, from getting up and using shared kitchens and washrooms to visiting times and rest at night. 

Today around 2.9 million people with Turkish roots live in Germany, around 3.5 percent of the population.

One of the first examples of local protests by Turks was a strike in 1973 at the Ford factory in Cologne following the immediate dismissal of 300 Turkish workers who had delayed returning from home leave. Around 8,000 mostly Turkish Ford workers spontaneously demonstrated for reinstatement and brought production to a standstill. Demands such as those for wage increases quickly arose. The Turks did all of this on their own initiative - IG Metall and the works council opposed the action.

“What was special was that the guest workers themselves raised their voices in 1973, organized themselves and demanded equal treatment,” says Nedim Hazar, artistic director of a musical about the strike. When the production “Baha and the Wild 70s” is performed on October 29th and 30th and November 7th at the original Ford factory site, three contemporary witnesses will also be on stage.

In the same year, 1973, West Germany stopped recruiting from other countries after the oil crisis - and it didn't take long before they said that the "guests" should leave now. It wasn't a right-wing extremist who swore at the time: "No more Turks will come across the border!" It was Helmut Schmidt, SPD. In 1983, under CDU Chancellor Helmut Kohl, a “return assistance law” offered foreigners several thousand deutschmarks each if they left Germany. "The Turks called it a 'fuck off bonus'," says Uslucan. It was “remigration” long before the AfD.

Today around 2.9 million people with Turkish roots live in Germany, around 3.5 percent of the population. Of these, 1.5 million have Turkish citizenship. The rest are Germans, many with a second Turkish passport. Most of them say they feel at home in both countries.

"But - and this is the critical message - since around 2010, ties to Germany have declined, while those to Turkey have increased." Uslucan sees one reason for this in Turkey's economic and political rise. At the same time, Germany was shaken by the murders of the neo-Nazi cell NSU. In socio-political debates, Turks were still portrayed as an integration problem. “So you experienced a self-confident Türkiye, also an embrace strategy by Türkiye, while at the same time being excluded in Germany,” says the scientist.

The basic feeling of many people of Turkish origin is: "I have lived here since I was born, have been paying taxes for decades - but I am still seen as a foreigner." Uslucan refers to a study by the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) before the 2025 federal election: around 20 percent of Germans with a Turkish migration background can therefore imagine voting for the AfD. They often take the stance that they or their parents had to fight hard for everything, while today's immigrants have a lot thrown at them. "It's an effort to differentiate, resulting from the frustration of being lumped in with these newcomers," says Uslucan.

The bottom line is that his balance sheet is positive. "We have made enormous progress in all areas, especially in the area of ​​education." This year, Cem Özdemir (Greens) became the first Turkish-born Prime Minister in Baden-Württemberg. Language, music, food culture, wedding planning and much else in Germany are influenced by Turkish influences. There are also countless German-Turkish couples.

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