Merkel calls for loyalty from Turkish-Germans

By Emin Avundukluoglu

BERLIN

Germany’s Turkish-origin residents should develop loyalty to the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.

In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse and Ruhr Nachrichten newspapers, she said: “We expect that people of Turkish origin who have been living in Germany for a long time should develop a high level of loyalty to our nation.

“Therefore we try to have open ears to listen to their concerns and understand them. For this reason we also keep in close contact with immigrant associations.”

Merkel’s comments follow demands by politicians in Germany and Austria that residents with Turkish roots should divorce themselves from Turkish politics after the July 15 attempted coup sparked pro-democracy demonstrations.

Last month, a court banned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a Cologne rally of up to 40,000 mostly Turkish-origin supporters by video link. The crowd had come from across Europe to celebrate the defeat of the coup.

Such developments have led to a backlash in Turkey, where the European response to the coup attempt has been widely viewed as half-hearted.

There are around 3 million people of Turkish descent in Germany, around half of which retain their Turkish citizenship, and up to 300,000 in Austria.

The German government is currently considering ending dual citizenship, which members of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union have said is a “huge obstacle to integration”.

In her interview, the chancellor said freedoms of opinion and assembly were available to all German residents but “everybody should express their different opinions peacefully.”