Interview
In an interview with Open Citizenship, the Federal chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany Kenan Kolat laid out why participation is more important than integration for migrants in Germany. He has German and Turkish citizenship and is a member of the Social Democrats Germany (SPD).
You use the term “participation” instead of “integration.” How are these terms different?
The term “integration” is not a concrete idea, as it doesn’t say who should be integrated or into what: to punks, intellectuals, or opera singers? No one can define it for me. Several years ago, Berlin’s former integration minister asked the people what integration means. She received hundreds of thousands of responses, but no clear answer. Participation, by contrast, is a specific term that means playing a role in every aspect of society: culture, education, economy.
Participation requires specific access. In order to have such access, we need to show people particular points of entry and support them. Only then can they be challenged to contribute. The goal is to become a real part of society, that’s integration. But when there is discrimination, then I need to change the system and I need equalizing mechanisms, such as financial aid. For example, if 20 percent of the population in Berlin have immigrant backgrounds, then 20 percent of new public employees have immigrant backgrounds – as the new integration and participation law in Berlin stipulates. But these must be German citizens. This means we must approach citizenship in a different way.
We need time controls: someone who has lived for 30 years in Germany and speaks some German should be able to get naturalised without problems, as a matter of course. We recognize his service to this country. This affects primarily the first generation of Turks, who arrived 30 to 40 years ago.
When talking about social participation for immigrants, we often hear about political participation and the inability of third-country nationals to vote in local elections, which indicates discrimination compared to EU citizens. How important are voting rights for immigrants?
Participation doesn’t automatically solve the problem. But participation is one way toward a solution. If someone can and wants to participate, then that person should be allowed in. Her identification with the society and the state would be much higher then. If … It would be a symbol and symbols are important in politics. And if, for example, local voting rights [for migrants] were introduced in Kreuzberg, the political parties would get interested in putting up immigrant candidates to win elections. It would become an interactive process. It would create a greater interest in politics, even if only temporary.
How likely do you think it is that Germany will pass a constitutional amendment that would grant local voting rights for immigrants in Germany?
As long as the CDU blocks legislation, it will be impossible. This will remain a tactical issue for the CDU until they realize that they could gain votes in the long-term, for example from more conservative Turkish voters for whom family plays a larger role. Even though the CDU is, according to its name, a Christian party, there are many Muslims who also vote for the party. The CDU just needs to ___ over the content of its politics.
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