The Turkey Debate in Germany

A further article in Tagesspiegel directly addresses Ankara’s engagement in Syria. Turkey,
hosting some 9,000 Syrian refugees, has once again requested President Assad to stop the
inhuman crackdown by his security forces. 139
Jurgen Gottschlich, Istanbul correspondent for taz, points to a growing divide between Turkey
and the Syrian regime. During a visit to the Syrian refugee camps, Turkish Foreign Minister
Davutoglu reassured the refugees that Turkey would not consider closing its border. However,
Gottschlich claims that Turkey is considering a possible military intervention to set up a
buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border should the number of refugees climb above
100,000. Ankara, he believes, fears that the violence in Syria could evolve into a religious
conflict between Sunnis and Alevis.
In an article for Frankfurter Rundschau, Turkey correspondent Gerd Hohler points out that
Erdogan’s efforts to assuage Assad’s violent repression of protests in Syria has not yet yielded
any concrete results. According to Hohler, Erdogan finds himself in a dilemma:
“On the one side, Turkey is interested in political stability. On the other side, it knows
that the era of dictators is over. For many Arabs, Turkey is a model of how Islam,
democracy, and economic prosperity can be reconciled. If the Turks want to pursue their
economic interests in the region in the long term, they would do well to practice solidarity
with the people rather than the leaders.” 140
In Syria, Hohler claims, the situation is particularly complicated. With 1.5 million Kurds
living in Syria and having been refused citizenship for decades, there is a risk that they might
join the militant PKK, “which would take Turkey’s Kurdish question to a whole new
dimension.” Moreover, Syria is the only Iranian ally in the region. Assad’s downfall would
further isolate the regime in Tehran, with possible consequences for Turkish-Iranian relations.
For Hohler, a change of power in Damascus would have an impact on the entire Middle East,
forcing Turkey to seriously rethink its strategy of navigating between East and West. 141
Die Zeit reports that – following an advance by Syrian troops into the village of Chirbet al-
Djoos, located only 100 metres from the Turkish border – the Syrian and Turkish armies are
now within sight of each other. 142
23 June 2011 – Berlin Mayor thanks gastarbeiters
On the 50 th anniversary of the bilateral agreement encouraging Turkish workers to come to
Germany, Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) thanked immigrants for their contribution to
economic reconstruction and political integration. At the same time, he criticised German
politics for failing to recognise the challenges of integration. According to Die Welt, which
reported the story, around 105,000 Turks currently live in Berlin. 143
24 June 2011 – Prevention Summit in Germany
At the Integration Summit in March, Minister of Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich had announced
his intention to hold a Prevention Summit (“Praventionsgipfel”) with Muslim representatives
139 Tagesspiegel, Ankara wirbt fur Reformen in Syrien, 16 June.
140 Frankfurter Rundschau, Guter Freund am Bosporus, 21 June.
141 Frankfurter Rundschau, Guter Freund am Bosporus, 21 June.
142 Die Zeit, Syrien und Turkei verlegen Truppen an die Grenze, 24 June.
143 Die Welt, Wowereit dankt den zugewanderten Arbeitern, 23 June.
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