Relations between Germany and Turkey are close, but also multi-layered. Of particular importance in this connection are the three million people of Turkish origin who live in Germany – as well as the even larger number of those who, after a certain period in Germany, have returned to their homeland, writes “Neuye Zürcher Zeitung“ (NCC).
Close relationships from earlier times
However, the publication points out that the close relations did not begin with the arrival of the first guest workers in the 1960s. The German Empire is an ally of the High Gate. Kaiser Wilhelm II Sultan Abdulhamid maintained close contacts. After that, the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, invited German scientists and experts to the country to modernize it. Among them were many who had been persecuted by the Nazis in Germany – for them, Turkey becomes a safe haven.
All this has been known for a long time, but the lesser-known chapter of the German-Turkish history is related to the German-speaking inhabitants of Turkey, who were forcibly resettled in Anatolia at the end of the Second World War. The studies of the Institute for the Orient in Istanbul provide much more information about the fate of these people, notes the Swiss publication.
In exile
During the Second World War, Turkey remained neutral, but after the Battle of Stalingrad, which was decisive for the outcome of the war, Ankara, under pressure from the Allies, severed diplomatic relations with Berlin. As a result, in just a few days, all people with a German passport, i.e. and the Austrians had to either leave the country or go into internal exile. The requirement did not apply only to high-ranking officials, doctors or university professors, the NCC added.
Thus, over 600 people, Jewish or communist refugees, but also Germans whose ancestors arrived in Turkey as early as the 19th century, and even some sympathizers of National Socialism ended up in three small towns east of Ankara: Çorum, Yozgat and Kersehir. “The order for their eviction is causing panic. "People thought they would be interned," said the expert on German-Turkish relations, Richard Wittmann. Those affected inevitably feared that they would end up in the camps of Nazi Germany. And the then Archbishop of Istanbul, who later became Pope John XXIII – Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, said in August 1944: “All Germans in the country will be sent to concentration camps”.
The attitude towards the Germans was friendly
The anxiety of the Germans that they could end up in camps in Anatolia was not unfounded, the NCC continues. They had to give up their comfortable life in the big city and indeed faced many restrictions. But their new environment is not hostile, the historian Whitman points out to the NCC – contacts with the local population were good.
In all three Anatolian provincial towns, today nothing reminds of the German exiles, except the personal memories and family stories of the local residents. 85-year-old Jürkü Schneider-Gürkan, who lives in Frankfurt, remembers how as a young girl she encountered the foreigners in her town of Chorum.
The story of the woman is a true example of the diversity of German-Turkish history. From Çorum, she went to study in Frankfurt, graduated in political science and became an activist for the rights of Turkish guest workers in the Federal Republic. In the framework of his activities, he met the son of Turkish migrants in Germany, whom he encouraged to take up politics. Today, Cem Özdemir is the first minister in the German government who has Turkish roots.
Biliana Mihailova editor