Speaking at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the German-Turkish recruitment agreement, Steinmeier praised the families of Turkish immigrants and called them an important part of Germany. A Germany without guest workers, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would be “simply unimaginable today,” Steinmeier said at the event. Germany began recruiting workers from abroad to in industries such as agriculture, construction, steel, automotive and mining in the 1950s. “Being German today can mean just as much that your grandparents come from Cologne or Königsberg as from Istanbul or Diyarbakir,” he said. Muslims belong to Germany just as much as secular immigrants, the German president stressed.

Source: The Local September 10, 2021 15:11 UTC