The German Forced to Become a Turk

[cali]

By Jochen-Martin Gutsch
Carsten Koall
Norbert Enker
Carsten Koall
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Mohammad Eke was born and grew up in the German city of Essen. Until authorities found out that his parents had entered the country illegally, Germany was his home. Then Eke was deported to Turkey, even though he'd never visited the country and didn't speak the language. It's just another run-of-the-mill case of German immigration policy in action.

The young man sits with his bag in Istanbul's airport, as he often does when he doesn't know what to do with himself or his time.

The bag holds two towels, two pairs of jeans, three T-shirts, a pair of shoes, a jacket and his toiletries. It also contains a Turkish dictionary, a folder containing documents from a German Office of Alien Affairs and a bottle of antidepressant pills, which he needs to fall asleep. The bag is the size of a carry-on bag, and he could easily be mistaken for a tourist visiting Istanbul for a couple of days. Such tourists are eager to see the sights and do the things tourists do here: see the Bosporus, Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque or a game of Fenerbahçe, the city's famed football team -- and then return home.

In fact, there is probably nothing Mohammad Eke would like more than to go home -- to board an airplane, take off and arrive at his destination. But, for him, that would be difficult and perhaps even impossible. Going home would mean returning to Germany, where officials have spent a lot of time and effort over the last few years trying to get rid of him and send him to Istanbul.

When they finally succeeded, it was Aug. 6, a hot summer day. Sometime between two and three in the morning, Eke walked out of his cell at a deportation center in Büren, a town in northwestern Germany. He hadn't slept. During the nine months he spent in custody pending deportation, he had dreaded this moment -- while at the same time longing for it.

Then, he was handcuffed and driven a short distance to Düsseldorf's airport, where he was searched -- his clothing, his bag, his body. Then he was driven out to an aircraft so that he could board it before the other passengers. He sat down in the window seat in row 29. He was joined in his row by two federal German police officers who were accompanying him during his deportation. And just in case there were any problems during the flight -- such as a suicide attempt, perhaps -- there was a doctor sitting in the seat in front of him.

<snip>

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,665060,00.html

[izquierdista]

1. Just dust off that Third Reich purity manual

I wonder, did they asked him if his grandparents were Jewish?

[Posteritatis]

3. Don't throw stones; there's plenty of Americans who'd like to see this happen there too. (nt)

[Warpy]

6. There's a pretty strong movement to strip citizenship

from the native born children of illegal immigrants to keep that lack of civil rights going from generation to generation.

Clearly, as this story demonstrates, this is both insane and cruel.

[cali]

7. If you're talking about here in the U.S.

that movement is thankfully pretty feeble.

[Warpy]

9. It sure is LOUD

and has more support than you think among white bread suburban conservatives.

[Posteritatis]

10. Conservatives? I've seen it advocated here. (nt)

[cali]

13. so what? What isn't advocated here?

[cali]

12. It may be loud but it's weak

no effort in Congress and almost impossible to get any political traction for it. Likely because people realize that changing the Constitution is very difficult.

[SmileyRose]

2. my question is

I don't agree with this German immigration law, but why is the guy living in the airport? Shouldn't the Turkish people be looking out for their own a little better? (and yes I know the US doesn't take care of it's own - which does not excuse Turkey)

[Posteritatis]

4. He's not their own. (nt)

[cali]

5. well, to me the story's about a kid who was born in Germany

speaks german and who is culturally more German than Turkish.

[Odin2005]

8. Europe is far more racist than we are.

They just hide it better. Our African-American population and our history of immigration has forced us to deal with racism, Europe never had either outside of Jewish people.

[dustbunnie]

11. Most European countries base citizen requirements on jus sanguinis principles.

That's just the way it is.

I don't think there's ANY European country that allows unconditional access to citizenship based on birth, though I could be wrong.

[izquierdista]

14. Well, that's bloody awful.

Citizenship laws are one more way that the ruling classes can pit the working classes against each other. If the kid was an aristocrat with a big bank account, you can bet that he could live anywhere he wanted to.

[dustbunnie]

15. Well, now with the EU system, people can move around much more easily.

But citizenship is another matter and always has been. How do you think all those tiny countries managed to remain separate rather than blending into one big one? It's a mistake to try to compare Europe with the North American experience. They're quite different.

[FarCenter]

16. Most European, Asian, and African countries are jus sanguinis

Most North and South American countries are jus solis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli