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Germany: Turkish propaganda even in language courses

There are 33,000 students of Turkish origin who are enrolled in schools in Berlin. In a country where education is the responsibility of the "Länder", the Berlin authorities question the place that the Turkish language must occupy in schools.

The problem is the very small number of qualified teachers able to teach Turkish as a mother tongue in Berlin schools. In Germany, only the universities of Duisburg and Essen in the west of the country train Turkish language teachers. 33,000 students of Turkish origin attend primary and secondary schools in the capital. They are often from low-level families. Parents often do not feel competent to teach their children to read and write in their mother tongue.

However, it is very important for them that their children maintain the linguistic link with their country of origin, even for children of the third or fourth generation. Lack of adapted education offered by national education in schools, families are turning to the Turkish consulate in Germany.

Turkey, in charge of teaching Turkish

This is causing more and more problems to the Berlin authorities. But we find the same problem all over Germany. Parents only need to call the nearest consulate to receive a list of addresses that offer Turkish lessons to children. And, surprisingly, for the German press that did this test: the Turkish courses offered by the consulate, taught by teachers sent by Ankara to Germany, are taking place more and more frequently in mosques, including mosques known for their Islamist indoctrination.

Quite often, classes are placed in such a way just before or just after religion classes to allow children to attend both classes. Teachers' unions and German politicians are convinced that Turkey is trying to increase its grip on the German Turkish community. The strategy pays off. In the last Turkish elections, the German Turks overwhelmingly voted for AKP, the party of disputed Turkish President Erdogan.

The reaction of the authorities expected

The Berlin Minister of Education, under pressure, is determined to take the lead. At the next meeting of the German Länder Education Ministers in the autumn, she will announce the creation of a curriculum at the universities of Berlin to train lay teachers in Turkish. The idea is to increase the number of institutions offering Turkish as a second language alongside English and German. Demand is high on the family side. And Berlin wants to extend the concept to Kurdish and Arabic, the two most spoken languages ​​after Turkish by people of foreign origin living in Berlin.