Turks least integrated immigrant group in Germany

Berlin — Turks are the least integrated group of immigrants in German society, despite being the second most numerous, weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing a soon-to-be-published study.

Germany is home to just under three million Turks, but 30 percent of students of Turkish origin do not have a school leaving certificate and only 14 percent pass their final secondary school examinations, the study found.

Turks are also less successful than immigrants from other countries in securing a job in Germany, the study — to be unveiled on Monday by the Berlin Institute for population and development — showed.

Fewer than a third of Turks born in Germany have chosen to obtain German citizenship and 93 percent have married within the Turkish community.

On a scale of one (poorly integrated) to eight (well integrated), Turks were rated bottom of the table with 2.4, behind immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and Africa (3.2), the Middle East (4.1), southern Europe (4.4) and the Far East (4.6).

The best integrated group, according to the study, is immigrants from other EU countries who score 5.5 on the institute’s index.

The institute assesses several criteria including education, assimilation into society and employment to make up its index.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the German government was "on the right track" in integrating minorities, but added, "we must tell the socially weaker people, who have been isolated over generations: you are important.

"We value you, you are as valuable as the others," Schaeuble told Spiegel in an interview.

Some 15 million people in Germany are foreigners or of foreign origin, representing just under 20 percent of the total population.

The largest group, statistically, are Germans repatriated from the former Soviet Union following its collapse and German reunification.

AFP/Expatica