a competition almost at home for Turkey and its large diaspora in Germany

Turkey will play in the last 16 of the Euro on Tuesday against Austria and will be able to count on their many and noisy supporters in Germany.

Streets that are usually so quiet in the evening, which in a few minutes become the scene of scenes of joy. In Paderborn, the city of 150,000 inhabitants where the Blues are staying, as elsewhere in Germany, the large Turkish diaspora celebrates all of its team’s successes at the Euro, including qualification for the round of 16. Against Austria, Tuesday July 2, the Turks will play almost at home once again.

“We feel proud, it’s like we’re at home”rejoiced Turkish supporters encountered near the Dortmund stadium before the match against Portugal in the group stage, for which some of them had sometimes paid triple the initial price for their tickets on the black market given the difficulty of finding seats. They filled almost 75% of the stands that day, but very noisy at the start of the match, they gradually died out after the Portuguese goals (3-0). “The Euro is being played in Germany, but also a little in Türkiye”smiles Enver Maltas, sporting director of Türkgücü Munich, one of the many Turkish clubs in Germany, but the only one that managed to rise to the professional level three years ago before going back down to the fourth division.

Founded by several Turkish immigrant workers in the 1970s, Türkgücü Munich is one of the illustrations of the history that links Germany and Turkey. “Turkish immigration began in 1961, the year the Berlin Wall was built, explains Ulrich Pfeil, professor of German civilization at the University of Lorraine. Before that, many East Germans left the communist GDR for the West and represented a workforce. With the construction of the Wall, the FRG had to look for workers elsewhere, and in 1961, there was a first agreement between the FRG and Turkey. It was mostly men who came with the idea of ​​returning after a few years, but in the 1970s, their families finally joined them. Turkish football teams were then formed, because the German clubs often did not want them.”.

Today, the number of Turks in Germany is estimated at 1.3 million, but in total, 3 million people have Turkish parents or grandparents. And even if a bill is currently being discussed to speed up the obtaining of German citizenship for foreigners, the Turkish community is a target of racism, as several German-Turks we met told franceinfo: sport. “Today, young Turks have a closer connection with Turkey. In the recent Turkish elections, many Turks voted for Erdogan from Germany. And when you vote for him while living in Germany, it is a reflection of a real problem of integration and rejection from society.”comments Ulrich Pfeil.

In 2018, German footballer of Turkish origin, Mesut Özil, left the national team, denouncing racist insults after posting a photo of himself with President Erdogan. “We are Germans when we win, but immigrants when we lose”he wrote on his social networks. Like him, Ilkay Gundogan and Emre Can have chosen to represent Germany, but in recent years, several players born across the Rhine have now chosen to play for Turkey. This is the case, for example, of Salih Özcan, Kaan Ayhan, Kenan Yildiz and Cenk Tosun, who all wore the German colours in the youth selection, before opting for those of Turkey.

“When you look at 18-year-olds trained in Germany, it is often a fight between the German Federation and the Turkish Federation to attract them. For example, there is the case of a young striker from Nuremberg, Can Uzun, who scored a lot of goals last season in D2 (19 goals) and he finally chose Turkey”says Ulrich Pfeil. “I listened to my heart”explained the young player, not selected for the Euro. “Anyway, there is no wrong decision to play for Germany or Turkey. For us, coming from Turkish families in Germany, we have one heart but two countries”concludes Enver Maltas, whose club has a logo that represents both the Turkish flag and the colours of Bavaria. Like him, several million people are now dreaming of a final between Germany and Turkey.