tessintrnc wrote:What would happen in the Uk where there are huge "foreign" communities with their own unique cultures if ones culture suddenly had to be abandoned? Take a look at Chinatown in London, supermarkets that sell nothing but chinese goods, resteraunts, clubs etc. And Kilburn, a huge Irish community offering the Irish language, resteraunts pubs dancing classes etc!!! It happens all the time - so why should Turkish immigrants be discriminated against?
Tess
Tess,
What the hell are you talking about. Did the Germans prevent the Turks in Germany from practicing anything they wanted.............NO.
The Turks have everything they want. They have their Religion, Language, Music, social clubs, shops and customs, except for Honour Killings, which is just a little bit too extreme for the Germans since the WWII. What Erdogan wants, is to introduce Turkish into the German society and into their schools and Political Arena. The problem for Erdogan is, the second generation Turks have become Westernised and have adapted to the German society, just as you are adjusting to Cypriot Society. If the Turks wants to run their own private Turkish Schools, and I'm sure they do, no one is going to stop them, but at the same time, the German Government is not going to finance these institutions. The Turks came to Germany on their free will for better life. Most are enjoying better life than they would have had, had they remained in Turkey. Germany or any other country is not going to allow Turkey to "Turkify" their country as they have done in Northern Cyprus. Turks in Germany, specially the second and third generation who are German citizens still have their heritage with them, but slowly but surely is becoming less and less. This is the choice the Turks are making themselves. It is only natural. What Erdogan is worried about, if more Turks become like Germans, then who is going to send money back to Turkey to help with their economy, as well as losing support from the German Turks towards Turkey in the future, and most women will stop wearing Head Scarfs. Turkey is making more enemies with the West than she can afford at a time, when she wants more from the West than other way around.
In California we have/had Spanish being taught in Schools along with English. That wasn't bad as a second Language, but what happened next, was to teach Spanish kids their lessons in Spanish only and about History of Mexico. In short, the Spanish speaking kids were not learning the English Language adequately as well as falling behind on every other level in comparison with other kids who were being taught in English and about America in general, just because Spanish speaking parents and their leaders wanted to do what Erdogan was suggesting in Germany. It was a complete failure at the cost of the American Tax payers, and on top, the Spanish speaking kids left schools uneducated. I'm not sure if the practice still goes on, but there were calls to abolish this practice, and the calls were coming from the Mexicans themselves, because it served no purpose at all to learn Spanish and Mexican History when their lives are in the States. There is nothing stopping the Mexicans to teach their kids anything they want, but do it privately and don't put the burden on the State. This was all done of course to win the Mexican votes in elections, but it was a disservice for the Mexican kids who were left behind academically.
Germany is right to tell Erdogan to go and take a leap and leave their system alone.
