German Finance Minister Says Too Many Gastarbeiter Were Allowed In
THE GUARDIAN: Wolfgang Schäuble enters multiculturalism row, saying problems of integrating Turkish guest workers have grown with third generation

Germany's finance minister has waded into the country's simmering row over multiculturalism, saying it had been a mistake to bring in so many Gastarbeiter, or guest workers, from Turkey during the economic boom years of the 1960s.

In an interview with the Guardian, Wolfgang Schäuble said Germany had expected its 3.5 million Turkish minority to integrate better in the decades that followed the wave of immigration.

"We made a mistake in the early 60s when we decided to look for workers, not qualified workers but cheap workers from abroad, Turkey," said Schäuble. Some people of Turkish origin had lived in Germany for decades and did not speak German, he said.

"When we decided 50 years ago to invite workers from Turkey, we expected that their children would integrate automatically. But the problems have increased with the third generation, not diminished, therefore we have to change the policy," Schäuble said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's plain-speaking finance minister was adding to comments she made last year, claiming multiculturalism had been a disaster for Germany. More recently her new interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, stoked the debate by saying that Islam did not belong in Germany. The foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has also spelled out the new, tougher message from Berlin, declaring that children of immigrants should learn German before the language of their parents and grandparents. » | Larry Elliott and Julia Kollewe in Berlin | Friday, March 18, 2011