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2.6 million guest workers had been able to
establish their homes in Germany.
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According to the German
Federal Statistical Office, the number of people
with immigrant backgrounds in Germany came to
15.4 million (2007 micro-census). This
corresponds to 18.7 per cent of the population,
with the tendency rising. Germany’s total net
immigration between 2006 and 2050 will amount to
4.4 million people if the balance of migration
is 100 000, or 8.6 million people if it is 200
000.
At 19.4 per cent, people
with Turkish backgrounds head the list of
immigrants by an overwhelming margin, followed
by those from Poland (6.8 per cent), the Russian
Federation (6.6 per cent) and Italy (5.5 per
cent).
The number of immigrants
naturalized in Germany has declined in recent
years.
Migrants came to Germany
mainly for a few reasons: they came as workers,
ethnic repatriates, refugees, or dependents
immigrating to join their families.
In 1955, Germany and Italy
signed the agreement of the recruitment of
foreign workers. This was the first of its kind
that made the federal Republic of Germany to be
an immigration country. And so the first
"guest workers" started to flow into
Germany.
But during the oil crisis in
1973, the German government stopped foreign
workers' recruitment, but 2.6 million guest
workers had been able to establish their homes
in Germany.
But since January 1, 2005,
laws were issued which brought the immigration
act into force. The statements of the laws
regulate the statutes of the migrants coming to
Germany and the integration of foreigners living
in Germany.
Religious Divisions
- Christians 62.6%
- Catholics 31.5%
- Protestants 31.1%
- Muslims 3.9%
- Jews 0.1%
German Muslims
- 8 million are Turks
- 200,000 are
Bosnians,
- 100,000 are
Iranians,
- 80,000 are
Moroccans,
- 70,000 are Afghans,
- 800,000 are German
converts (most of them come from Turkey)
Muslim Sects
- 2.4 million (80%)
Sunni
- 500,000 (17%)
Alawite
- 130,000 (3%) Shiite
Islamic Organizations
- Central Council for
Muslims in Germany (ZMD)
- Islamic Council
(Islamrat)
- Association of
Islamic Cultural Centers (VIKZ)
- Turkish Islamic
Union (DITIB).
Labor
Market
The percentage of
unemployment among German Muslim youth is around
30%. Muslim women and youth hold low skilled
jobs.
Due to the lack of German
citizenship, Muslims face several forms of
discrimination in their workplace. Also, their
unsecured residency is a main reason of
countering discrimination.
To join any job, individuals
should hold German citizenship or be a member of
an EU country.
But Muslims and asylum
seekers have to wait long periods before holding
any position. Before 2004, five or six years of
official residence were a must before joining
the labor market.
Public
Perception of Islam
German bad perception
towards Islam is the highest amongst the Western
European countries.
Up to 46% of the respondents
to a survey held in 2003 agreed that "Islam
is a backward religion", 34% agreed that
"I'm distrustful of people of Islamic
religion", while 27% stated that
"immigration to Germany should be forbidden
for Muslims."
Another survey was conducted
on 2004, declared that 93% of Germans link
"Islam" with "oppression of
women," and 83% with "terrorism."
In 2006, only 30% of Germans
reported a "favorable opinion of
Islam."
One of the most famous
German conditions, titled "Deutsche
Zust?nde", states in 2006 that 39% have a
feeling of strangeness in their own country with
the existence of Muslims as co-citizens. One in
three Germans call for a ban on Muslim
immigration and 70% think that the relations
among Muslims and western countries are
generally bad.
Since 9/11, Muslims are
increasingly suspected of being terrorists by
the German public and the state's institutions.
Bias
and Discrimination
A survey was conducted in
2003, in which 65% claimed that Islam does not
fit with the West. The majority of people
surveyed were against any new immigration, and
feel uncomfortable living together with Muslim
neighborhoods. All that led to a rise in the
numbers of Muslims who feel they are being
discriminated against.
The murder of Theo van Gogh
in the Netherlands in November 2004 sparked
violence in Germany. Since then, foreigners,
including Muslims, faced threats of physical
violence, especially in the eastern parts of
Germany.
In 2006, the EU Monitoring
Center for Racism and Xenophobia reported that
70% of non-Muslim Germans believe that there was
a conflict between living in a modern society
and being a devoted Muslim. German respondents
showed more negative views on Muslims than other
respondents in France, Spain and the United
Kingdom.
The representation of Islam
in schoolbooks is highly criticized. This
representation transmits discrimination and
generalization, and it also encourages negative
prejudice.
A conference on the
cooperation with the state to confront
stereotypes in schoolbooks was held by the
Islamic Council in Germany. As a result, the
German George-Eckert Institute developed new
materials on the Islamic world for schoolbooks.
Muslims face direct and
indirect forms of discrimination in various
fields, such as employment, education, and even
by the police and in courts. Sometimes, they are
denied access to restaurants or clubs.
There is a great
segmentation among migrant and non-migrant
groups. This conclusion was stated in a survey
held by the EMUC (the European Monitoring
Center). Differences between native Germans and
migrants could be easily noticed generally in
regard of earnings, participation, and
employment. The ILO (International Labor
Organization) also admitted that there are some
kinds of discriminations against Muslim and
foreigner employees in general.
The German Center for
Studies on Turkey (Zentrum für Türkeistudien)
has declared that 15% of the discriminatory
cases were reported in the housing market.
Lots of discrimination cases
by the police were also reported. Young
policemen in Berlin are being trained to treat
immigrants the same as Germans and to see past
their immigrant backgrounds.
Amnesty International and
many other human rights organizations have
reported on the violation of human rights
against foreigners in the German state's
associations.
Several initiatives were
taken to help foreigners, Turks in particular,
and offer antidiscrimination services to address
discrimination against Muslims in Germany.
In 1999, a German NGO
supporting the integration of foreigners in
Germany, called "Aktion Courage",
launched a campaign for integrating Muslims and
Muslim organizations in Germany.
Religious
Rights
Freedom of religion is
provided in Germany. The state officially
recognizes some faiths, and once recognized,
they became public organizations. They get full
independence in matters of employment, freedom
of organizing councils and chains of command,
and the right to receive a percentage of the
national revenue based on tax payers'
declarations of membership. But Islam has not
yet been recognized as a public corporation.
But the Muslim community has
realized the importance of "speaking with
one voice" towards the German state. This
should enable Muslims to gain more rights.
The issue of halal slaughter
has also been confronted for many years. In
respect for the Muslim belief and obligations,
the Federal Constitutional court allowed Muslims
to be exempt from animal protection legislation,
but the conflicts over slaughtering continue.
Education
In Germany, elementary and
high schools offer - generally Catholic or
Protestant - religion courses. Alternatively,
students can choose to take ethics. Recognized
courses in Islam were approved by the German
government in 2009, but have not yet been
implemented in schools. "My Book About
Islam" is the first schoolbook about this
religion to be approved for young children in
Germany.
Uwe Schuenemann (both
interior minister of Lower Saxony and state's
integration minister have announced a new
education initiative for imams. The first batch
of German-educated imams is set to graduate in
Osnabrueck in three years, according to Deutsche
Welle.
Recent
Legislation on Immigration
According to the new
citizenship law issued in January 2000, children
of foreign parents born in Germany, under
certain circumstances, get German citizenship.
A New Immigration Act went
into effect on January 1, 2005. The act supports
a legislative framework controlling and
restricting migrants. In addition, it promotes
the integration of legal immigrants in Germany.
According to the Act, there
will only be two types of residence permits
instead of five: the temporary residence permit
and the permanent settlement permits. The right
of residence has become oriented on the purpose
of residence, such as education, employment,
training, and subsequent immigration of a family
member.
Recruiting foreign labor is
still banned even for unskilled, semi-skilled,
and skilled workers as well. But sometimes,
foreign students remain in Germany for one year
after their graduation, searching for jobs with
their academic degrees.
Conservative parties in
Germany have always attacked this law. They
define it as an overly liberal legislation. They
combine it with calls for tightening security
measures, counting on terrorism in strengthening
their point of views.
In 2006, these parties
introduced a questionnaire for naturalization
about "one's convictions". This
questionnaire was aiming to find out whether the
applicants had been saturated with the values of
the German nation.
But the questionnaire
included some controversial questions such as:
"What do you think about the fact that
homosexual people hold official offices in
Germany?", "What do you think about
the statement that the wife has to obey her
husband and that he may beat her if she does not
obey him?", "Your adult daughter/wife
wants to dress just like other girls and women
as well. Would you try to prevent it? If yes,
with what means?"
These questions provoked
some human rights advocates and civil society
groups, who said that the applicant might lose
German citizenship years later, if it becomes
known that he or she hid his or her real
opinions.
In the Migration Report, the
Federal Government's Commissioner on
Immigration, Refugees and Integration declared
that some legal steps have been taken to improve
the employment situation of migrants.
Concerning the headscarf
(hijab), eight German states banned
schoolteachers from wearing hijab in schools.
These states are: Bavaria, Bremen,
Baden-Wurtemburg, Hessen, Lower-Saxony, Berlin,
and North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the
Counter-terrorism Act of January 9, 2002, state
authorities could order a foreigner to be
deported from the country without having to
issue an official order to leave. New provisions
were made to monitor the activities of
foreigners who had been ordered to leave the
country. Before issuing a settlement permit or
agreeing on an application for naturalization,
authorities will make a request for information
on the anti-constitutional activists by the
person in question.
Muslims
in German Politics
"Second and third
generation Muslim immigrants have a different
approach to Western society than the previous
one. They perceive themselves as an integral
part of it", according to Dr. Dietrich
Reetz - from the Zentrum Moderner Orient ZMO in
Berlin.
Germany’s 15 million
people (18% of the population) who come from an
immigration background are reflected in the
German Parliament (2009) by 11 politicians (less
than 2 percent of the Bundestag).
As for the pending national
ballot, the situation is similar. The candidates
with immigration backgrounds where selected in
areas with low probability of winning.
Immigrants are utterly under-represented in the
German federal politics, according to Roland
Detsch.
In Germany, Muslims’
interest in politics is surprisingly low (only
37 percent of all Muslims find politics quite or
very important, but this value increases with
age). Political attitudes appear to be
relatively unaffected by religiosity; only 16
percent of respondents report that their faith
has a significant effect on their political
views, and 65 percent reject the idea of an
Islamic party, according to the Religion
Monitor 2008 Muslim Religiousness in Germany.
German citizenship is
prerequisite for the active and passive right to
vote.
In March this year,
"Data 4 U" interviewed Turks as to
their voting plans. While the SPD obtained more
than 55 percent of their support, the CDU
benefited of just 10 percent.
Network of Elected
Officials of Turkish Origin
The Körber Foundation
launched in 2004 the Network of Elected
Officials of Turkish Origin. Network’s
foremost task to convince immigrants to acquire
German citizenship. They have called for
immigrants to learn the German language as the
key to successful political engagement, to
identify themselves with Germany and to commit
themselves to the principles of the German Basic
Law. The Network’s information and education
programs are designed to help immigrants
“emerge from their political speechlessness,
say goodbye to their role as victims (which has
been in part self-imposed) and show a stronger
interest in political events and the democratic
process.”… “All in all, stronger political
participation by immigrants is a major
contribution to promoting democracy and
integration.”
“Immigrants aren’t given
an equal chance” says the Stuttgart SPD
councilman Ergun Can, Federal Chairman of the
‘Network of Elected Officials of Turkish
Origin’, disillusioned. Above all, when it
comes to a mandate at a higher level than that
of city councils, we get nowhere. In several
places there have already been deliberations
whether immigrants should start their own
party.” At the municipal level, he says, this
would be definitely practicable. “But that’,
says Can, “would be the end of integration,
absolutely the worst case scenario”.
According to the Körber
Foundation in Hamburg, there are only 85
political representatives of Turkish origin in
German city councils, state parliaments and the
federal parliament.
“Alliance for Peace and
Fairness”
The Muslim Council in Bonn
initiated the first Muslim voters association in
Germany (launched in June 2009). After 2 months,
32 Muslim candidates were on the ballot for Bonn
from the “Alliance for Peace and Fairness”
and the party obtained 2 seats in the Bonn
Council which will be occupied by Haluk Yildiz
and Hülya Dogan.
The chairman of the
“Alliance for Peace and Fairness”, Haluk
Yildiz, stresses that, unlike some other Muslim
groups, the Alliance for Peace and Fairness
is not out to promote a Muslim agenda.
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