Category: Germany

With an estimated number of at least 2.1 million Turks in Germany, they form the largest ethnic minority. The vast majority are found in what used to be West Germany. Berlin, Frankfurt,Hamburg, Rhine-Ruhr (Cologne, Duisburg and Dortmund) have large Turkish communities. The state with the largest Turkish population is North Rhine-Westphalia.

„Kids in die Clubs“– Satranç Club 2000 is project partner

Faithful to its philosophy, the intercultural chess club “Satranç Club 2000”(www.satranc.de.vu) has signed a cooperation agreement with the sports department of thecity of Cologne for the project “Kids in the clubs”. The aim of this project is to give allchildren the opportunity of joining sport clubs outside of their school and of discovering thewonderful game of chess as well.Are you holder of the Köln-Pass? Present us a copy of this document and your children mayjoin our club for free.The budget of the city of Cologne is limited, hence ‘First come, first serve’. Just visit our club(City Hotel Köln am Neumarkt, Clemensstraße 8, 50676 Cologne, Germany) every Saturdayat 3:30 pm or mail to: satrancclub2000@gmx.de or call: 01799425521.

June 21, 2011
Europe takes on US to win $16 bln Turkey fighter jet deal

Turkey, with its plan to purchase 100 fighter jets — for which it was going to shake hands with Lockheed Martin for $16 billion, but later suspended due to the American aerospace company’s refusal to share technology with it — has also received an offer from Europe, one that includes the sharing of the know-how Turkey wants.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman on the condition of anonymity, a leading executive from European Eurofighter — an aerospace consortium of Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — said they agree to fulfill Turkey’s demands to that end. “We are ready to share all software codes and critical technologies with Turkey,” the official said. Previously the Lockheed Martin director responsible for the F-35s Turkey initially agreed to buy said that what Turkey wanted was not acceptable because of “financial and cost constraints.” The American company declined to comment on the issue despite Eurofighter’s offer.

Earlier in March, Turkey announced that it was putting the planned purchase of 100 F-35 fighter jets from the US on hold because the Pentagon refused to share the source code used in the software designed for the aircraft, as well as the codes that might be used externally to activate the planes. Lockheed is the Pentagon’s top supplier by sales. It builds the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft, as well as the Aegis naval combat system and THAAD missile defense.

Without the source code, Turkish engineers wouldn’t be able to make any changes to the software that operates the jets. The external flight codes are equally important, if not more so, as they can be used externally to navigate the jets.

via zaman

May 31, 2011
Germany agrees to return Turkish sphinx

Germany has agreed to return the 3,000-year-old Hittite sphinx to Turkey after almost a century, as a gesture of friendship between the two countries.

A museum visitor looks at a Hittite sphinx in Berlin

German and Turkish experts came to an agreement in a meeting in Berlin, where they discussed returning the relic which has been kept at the Pergamon Museum of the Museum Island in Berlin since 1934, Artdaily reported.

The sculpture, which is partly intact, will be sent to Turkey before November 28, 2011, the 25th anniversary of the official recognition of Hattusha, where the object was found as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“The SPK has decided to make this voluntary gesture as a special sign of the close ties shared by both countries,” President of the Prussian Cultural Foundation (SPK) Hermann Parzinger said in an official statement.

“I am heartened that this agreement now paves the way for a period of heightened, long-term collaboration in the area of culture and science. Both sides are due to benefit from it enormously.”

The sphinx was found in pieces by a team of German archeologists in 1907 and sent to the Museum of the Ancient Near East in Berlin to be restored and assessed, along with a further 10,000 Hittite clay tablets.

Experts say the relic had been part of a gate complex of the Hittite capital of Hattusha and dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE.

The sculptural fragments found in 1907 were reassembled in the 1920s in Berlin, with some large parts replaced by plaster. Two sphinxes were formed out of the pieces and the best-preserved one was sent back to Istanbul in 1924.

The second sphinx, however, was displayed in the Pergamon Museum together with a copy of its Istanbul counterpart.

TE/HGH

via PressTV – Germany agrees to return Turkish sphinx.

May 29, 2011
Minister of State Pieper: Cultural Academy in Istanbul to open in 2011

On 23 May Minister of State Cornelia Pieper briefed the members of the German Bundestag’s Subcommmittee on Cultural and Education Policy Abroad on how work on the new Cultural Academy in Tarabya/Istanbul is progressing.

Minister of State Pieper is due to open the Cultural Academy on 30 October 2011, the 50th anniversary of the recruitment agreement between Germany and Turkey. The plan is for artists in various disciplines to live and work at the Academy for six months with full funding. Currently the historic buildings are being converted to provide five (after a later extension seven) studios. The next step is for the Academy’s Advisory Council to convene under Minister Pieper’s chairmanship to lay down the procedures for granting the planned fellowships.

Legally speaking, the Cultural Academy will be part of the German Embassy in Ankara. This arrangement takes account of the Tarabya site’s diplomatic status, one of the stipulations when it was gifted to the German state long ago. The Goethe-Institut Istanbul will cooperate closely with the Cultural Academy and help look after the new fellows.

Speaking in this connection today (24 May) in Berlin, Minister of State Pieper said:

“I am delighted that, thanks to everyone involved, we now have a very good solution for the new Cultural Academy. For our cultural exchange with Turkish partners this project has great significance. I would like to thank particularly the Goethe-Institut for its willingness to help us look after the artists. The arrangements now in place fulfil the status and budgetary requirements while also doing justice to the whole concept of the Academy. With the go ahead for both the German-Turkish University in Istanbul and the social sciences degree course jointly offered by universities in Ankara and Berlin (Humboldt University) as well as the German-Turkish Translation Prize, it is clear that working together under the auspices of the Ernst Reuter Initiative has enabled us to realize a number of important and forward-looking projects.”

For Goethe-Institut President Klaus-Dieter Lehmann the new arrangements “reflect a sense of realism. I am glad to see the Goethe-Institut take responsibility here. With our curatorial expertise we can play an active role in developing and promoting cultural exchange and facilitating access to Istanbul’s cultural scene. All the effort invested in making Tarabya possible has now paid off.”

The site overlooking the Bosporus in Istanbul’s Tarabya district was gifted to the German Empire in 1880 by Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II and served for years as the German Ambassador’s summer residence.

via Auswärtiges Amt – Startseite – Minister of State Pieper: Cultural Academy in Istanbul to open in 2011.

May 25, 2011
Germany to return ancient sphinx to Turkey

German government to return the ancient Hattusa sphinx unearthed in Turkey but kept in Berlin for nearly a century

Germany has decided to meet a long-standing request from Turkey that demanded German government return the ancient Hattusa sphinx unearthed in Turkey but kept in Berlin for nearly a century.

The decision came after a meeting of German and Turkish officials in Berlin on Friday.

German State Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann told reporters after the meeting that Hattusa sphinx would given back to Turkey as a “voluntary gesture” for Turkish-German friendship.

Neumann added that the solution found by parties would be a good basis to improve cultural cooperation between the two countries.

The sphinx will be taken to Turkey by late November, sources said.

The Hattusa sphinx was found by German archaeologists in the ancient city of Hattusa in central Anatolia in early 20th century. German archaeologists have been excavating the ancient site since 1906 and the Bronze Age sphinx is considered to be their biggest discovery.

The sphinx was taken to Berlin in 1915 for restoration.

In an earlier statement, Turkish Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay said that Turkey would suspend excavations carried out by German archaeologists in Hattusa unless the ancient sphinx is returned.

AA

May 15, 2011
Turkey calls on Germany to protect Turks from racist attacks

Turkey has called on Germany to bring those responsible for racist attacks against Turkish communities in that country to justice by handing down the necessary sentences, pointing to increasing attacks against Turks recently.

World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey has called on Germany to bring those responsible for racist attacks against Turkish communities in that country to justice by handing down the necessary sentences, pointing to increasing attacks against Turks recently.

A Foreign Ministry statement released on Tuesday rebuked growing attacks in the past few weeks against houses, mosques and associations that belong to Turkish immigrants. The attacks, it said, reek of Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism.

According to the statement, assailants have attempted to burn down 10 houses in the past 10 days in various Berlin neighborhoods. “Our citizens face these attacks with fear and concern, and we are carefully following the incidents,” the statement stressed. It added that Turkey expects the relevant German authorities to find the perpetrators as soon as possible and bring them to justice.

Germany is home to Western Europe’s second-largest Muslim population after France. The single biggest minority is Turkish. In contrast to the situation in Britain or France, where simmering racial tensions sometimes explode into violence, German Muslims live relatively peacefully alongside mainstream society, but a lack of integration has long posed a problem.

According to the statement, Turkey believes similar incidents constitute a grave injustice to Turks, who are striving to maintain peace and stability in the country while contributing to Germany’s economic success.

A fraught debate was sparked in Germany last summer when then-Bundesbank member Thilo Sarrazin published a bestselling book arguing that Muslim immigrants were welfare sponges who threatened the country’s economy and long-term future.

Turkey also blamed German politicians and the media. “Statements by politicians and media publications that portray immigrants in a negative and biased way make immigrants, who are an integral part of Germany, a target of xenophobic groups,” the statement concluded.

via Turkey calls on Germany to protect Turks from racist attacks | Diplomacy | World Bulletin.

March 31, 2011