They themselves mostly never returned, but their grandchildren, born and educated in Germany, are returning. The “return immigration” of educated Turks to Turkey is not a situation to which Germany pays much heed. But these days, it is not just the “Germanified Turks” who are flocking to Turkey, but also Germans themselves. Claudia Hahn-Raabe, the director of İstanbul’s Goethe Institute, explains: “You would not believe how many requests I get from Germany. All of the artists in Germany seem to want to come to Turkey, to İstanbul in particular. The issue at hand used to be immigration from Turkey to Germany. But these days, it is reciprocal. Germans now want to come here.”
In fact, Germans have even formed an artists’ academy in Tarabaya for these purposes. As Hahn-Raabe sees it, it is nowadays difficult to really do anything new in places like Rome or Paris, as everything that can be done has already been done there, and everyone already knows what all the galleries and museums have to offer. By contrast, everything in İstanbul is still in the developing phase, and new ideas are hidden everywhere. This is a situation that quite naturally draws people like artists, writers and academics to the city.
Turkey has a powerful pull
Germany’s Center for Turkish Studies (TAM) academic Cem Şentürk says: “The growth of the Turkish economy and the sheer draw of İstanbul are attractive not only to Turks, but also to foreigners. For German youth, İstanbul is an alternative much like New York, London or Madrid for living and working.” Şentürk also points to some comments made recently by film director Fatih Akın regarding a similar topic. Akın, complaining that he is having a difficult time finding material for filmmaking in Hamburg these days, said he was considering moving to İstanbul for this reason. Şentürk even asserted that while 34,000 people a year come from Germany to Turkey, annually 31,000 go in the opposite direction, from Turkey to Germany.
German academics eye Turkish universities
Political scientist and Professor Savaş Genç, who was born and grew up in Germany, is one of those who came to İstanbul for work. His goal is to build his career opportunities in İstanbul. He says: “In Europe, the average age of people is quite old. A professor in Germany can head up a course until he or she is 70 years old. As a result, for academics, especially social scientists, there are almost no job openings. And actually, in addition to this, for their work, there are very few changing paradigms in society. So Turkey is really advantageous for social scientists. Someone who has received a quality education can really advance quickly here. All of my grades in Germany were 100 percent. But still, the best job offer I got there was just for two years. When I decided to come to Turkey, I had to choose between three or four different universities for jobs. And if you know a few languages, you start off ahead of everyone. In Germany, even when you are really successful, there is no perspective on the future. For these reasons, not only are Turkish academics coming to Turkey, but so are German academics.”
‘Turkey’s rapid development caught Europe by surprise’
A trend that is seeing a flow of an educated younger generation out of Germany and into Turkey has even been a subject of documentaries on German television. Professor Genç for his part asserts that the developments that are making Turkey so attractive for younger European generations actually caught Europe by surprise. Part of the reason for this is that in Germany, it is still Orientalists who follow Turkey. And as for social scientists, they don’t know how to study a country that experiences a coup every decade. Thus the past 10 years have really been up to the French to follow when it comes to developments in Turkey!
İstanbul, full of adventures and potential careers
Çiğdem Akkaya was born in Germany, and moved to Turkey for her career, which is now doing consulting for Germans planning on moving to Turkey. She says the recent turbulence caused by economic crises, and the drop in prosperity levels for Europeans, has caused many Europeans to look for new and different countries in which to lead their lives. She also notes that it is mainly İstanbul that is drawing in both returning Turks as well as Germans, pointing to the dynamic and youthful nature of a city that stands out in contrast to the calm and non-changing cities in so many places in Europe. She notes that even a factor such as incredible amounts of traffic, which İstanbul experiences, is not dissuading people from coming here. Of course, there are some big problems for Germans that do decide to come to İstanbul to work. There are difficulties obtaining work and residence permits. And, of course, there is the interesting twist in fate which sees today’s Germans in Turkey clamoring for many of the same rights that Turks in Germany have been demanding for years now. g.baki@zaman.com.tr
