SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Four groups representing Germany's Turkish population have refused to take part in Angela Merkel's integration summit being held Thursday. German commentators are divided over whether the groups have a point or whether they are just proving that Turks in Germany don't want to integrate.
The boycott by four major organizations representing the Turkish community in Germany of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's much-vaunted integration summit (more...) threatened to overshadow the event as it took shape on Thursday.
Their main bone of contention is a new immigration law which contains measures they consider discriminatory -- for example, a stipulation that future spouses can only come to Germany if they can prove knowledge of German, a rule that does not apply to Americans, Japanese or European Union citizens and seems to have been created with Turks in mind. "That is discrimination," said Kenan Kolat, chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) organization.
He announced Wednesday that his group would not be taking part in the summit. "We have determined that it makes no sense to participate because the government has not understood the seriousness of our concerns and doesn't appear to be willing to seriously discuss possible changes to the immigration law," Kolat told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Three other major Turkish organizations also said they were boycotting the summit -- which will still go ahead as planned.
The refusal to participate was criticized in some quarters. "You don't solve problems by staying away, but rather by speaking to each other," commented Maria Böhmer, Merkel's commissioner for integration. Observers suggested that the federations had shot themselves in the foot by refusing to participate, and that they were lending weight to the view that immigrants do not want to integrate. Immigration Law 'Hits Turks Below the Belt' (more)
Mark Alexander
