Germany: Turkish PM proposes Turkish schools

Germany: Turkish PM proposes Turkish schools

Not the first time he's making such a proposal.  Erdogan makes another important point here, though: citizenship and ethnic identity are two different things.  Erdogan sees this as a reason to allow Turks living in Germany to hold both German and Turkish citizenship.  But this goes both ways.  If "Turkish" is an ethnic identity worth preserving, why isn't "German"?

Related stories:
* Germany: Erdogan calls on Turks not to assimilate
* Germany: 'Erdogan wants us to become German'
* Turkey: "We need to inoculate European culture with Turkish culture"

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Germany should establish Turkish high-schools, just like Turkey established German schools, Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan proposes.  Erdogan argued for his proposal in an interview in German weekly Die Zeit, by referring to the language problem which a majority of the three million Turks in Germany have.

He thinks that people should first be fluent in their language, Turkish, and that is seldom the case.  He also suggested offering Turkish education in the period after final exams.  "We're now establishing a Turkish-German University in Istanbul.  Why aren't we doing that also by you?" he asked.  Erdogan said that it was a most dire necessity,  not a luxury but rather a contribution to integartion.

In the interview Erdogan said he supported double nationality.  "Even if somebody drops his citizenship, he can't change his ethnic origin."  He said it's a pity that Germany is one of the EU countries which don't allow double nationality.

Erdogan moreover pressed for full membership in the EU for Turkey.

Source: Trouw (Dutch)

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