Feeling foreign

Many Turkish immigrants living in Germany feel like unwanted foreigners in their adopted country and remain rooted to the values of their homeland, a new survey released on Thursday found.

The survey of 1,000 people, conducted by the polling institutes Info and Liljeberg Research, found that 45 percent of those asked felt "unwanted" in Germany, and 62 percent feel like Turks when they are in Germany but Germans when they are visiting Turkey.

It is a "life between two worlds," according to the survey's authors.

Of those asked, 42 percent said they wanted to go back to their land of origin, even if not immediately, and 82 percent felt that German society should have more consideration for the Turkish way of life.

One-third of those polled were of German origin, one-third of Turkish origin but living in Germany and another third were Turks living in Turkey.

There are 2.7 million people of Turkish origin living in Germany, of which 30 percent have German passports. They are Germany's largest ethnic minority.

Germany's Turkish population dates from the so-called "guest worker" program which began in the 1960s, when Germany invited Turkish workers to fill a labor shortage. Many of them stayed.

Differences in attitudes

Turks living in Germany said often feel between the two cultures when it comes to values, the survey found.

While 9 percent of Germans thought that parenting was primarily a woman's responsibility, 32 percent of people of Turkish origin felt it was. In Turkey, that figure was 52 percent.

Only 8 percent of Germans looked down on the idea of a man and woman living together before marriage. This compared with 56 percent of Turkish immigrants and 84 percent of Turkish people in Turkey.

"I see particularly big problems in the area of sexual tolerance," said Holger Liljeberg, chief executive of both institutes. "I see problems with regard to issues such as homosexuality and women's liberation, indicating a certain level of intolerance and a lack of freedom (on the part of Turkish migrants)."

However, there were shared values. Across the three groups, 90 percent said that law and order and respect for other religions and democracy were important.

'Not in next generation'

"The results of this study show that Turkish people in Germany are an ethnic minority that has held on to its cultural and religious roots and to Turkish values," said Liljeberg, adding that the findings could be useful in looking at more successful integration of Germany's Turkish population.

But because of the strength of the bonds between Turkish communities and their culture of origin, he said, this would take a long time.

For Kenan Kolat, head of an organization representing the Turkish community in Germany, the results of the study warrant a critical investigation.

"What Turks want to say, is that they can be good Muslims and Turks as well as being good Germans," Kolat said. "Turks want to be able to maintain their ideology while at the same time, become part of this country and its society. On the other hand, they're saying that they're being discriminated against."

rc,dc/AFP/dpa/AP

Editor: Kyle James