65 years of labour recruitment deal with Turkey: Merz speaks at Berlin ceremony
Chancellor Merz pays tribute to the people who came from Turkey. Integration commissioner Pawlik says discrimination persists in housing searches, job applications and schools.
Archive image · Photo: Dati Bendo / European Union, 2025 / EC - Audiovisual Service / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is attending a ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon marking the 65th anniversary of the German-Turkish labour recruitment agreement. According to the Chancellery, he will use his speech to honour the people who came to Germany from Turkey and whose work contributed to the country's economic success and prosperity. The agreement was signed on 30 October 1961. The event is hosted by the federal government's integration commissioner, Natalie Pawlik; Turkish Ambassador Gökhan Turan will also speak, and a discussion with members of the first generation and their descendants is planned.
Pawlik told the Rheinische Post that racism and discrimination against people of Turkish origin persist – in the search for housing, in job applications and at school. Anyone who has to give 120 percent to be seen as 100 percent is not badly integrated but badly treated, she said. She called for lasting funding of integration structures such as language and integration courses and help with the recognition of professional qualifications.
The Turkish embassy in Germany told the same newspaper: "We want to further deepen our close political and economic relations." It named more bilateral trade and progress on visa liberalisation as goals. As an example of the achievements of people of Turkish origin, the embassy pointed to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine by Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin.