The facts and fears of immigration
'Multiculturalism' should never be an excuse to ignore abuse of the rights of the individual going on under our noses.
I'm also worried about Turkey's possible future membership of the EU (not because of its religious tradition, but because of some dubious attitudes the country displays to its own minorities). If the EU isn't very firm on Turkish political reform in accession negotiations, we run the long-term risk of diluting Europe's democratic credentials.
But I do wish that Rónán would get his facts right. He talks about "parts of east Berlin" being "made up entirely of Turkish immigrants who are neither integrated into the host community nor able to speak German."
As a resident of east Berlin, I can tell him that there is hardly a Turk to be seen on this side of the old Wall (for which reason I'm regretfully forced to cross into the western part of the city just to buy fresh vegetables).
Even in the old West Berlin, the numbers of Turks who speak German substantially better, for example, than I do is impressive (if not entirely surprising the major wave of Turkish immigration having happened way back in the 1950s).
Almost all Turkish children go to German schools, speak German and mix with German children. The mythical vast swathes of Berlin that are now exclusively Turkish simply do not exist. Just across from the old Wall where I live (ie, in the west) is Wedding, one of the two most Turkish districts in the city, and guess what, it turns out to be a rich mix of old Berlin, Turkish, Kurdish, African and Arab, with a few layabout students thrown in. If his columns are anything to go by, Rónán is substantially more influenced by religion than most German Turks who, by and large, simply want to get on with their lives integrated into the German system, despite the fact that the same system denies citizenship even to those born and bred in Germany by insisting that they must first give up their Turkish identity before they can become Germans.
The stories of Turks who can't speak German are largely fictions born of a chauvinism that resents people choosing to speak a foreign language with each other in Germany.
Indeed it's true, Turkish is now commonly heard in Berlin. So what? So is Russian and English. When German is required (as it still often is), almost all German Turks can make themselves understood very well.
I would love to see statistics on German language skills among immigrants. I bet there are at least as many ex-pats from English-speaking countries (including myself) who haven't quite got the hang of it yet.
Whatever about that, to talk in non sequiturs, as Ronan breathlessly does, about some Iranian diplomats' perverse wish not to be tempted by alcohol or the flesh of female hands, then about honour killings in Somalian communities in Holland and religiously-inspired political assassinations, and then to throw in some nonsense about language difficulties among Germany's Turks, exposes what Mr Mullen is really on about, which is nothing to do with human rights.
Admit it, Rónán. It's all about your nightmare of the end of Christian Europe, isn't it? Well you don't need the Muslims for that. If Christians like yourself just continue to spread the same kind of ill-informed, chauvinistic nonsense as that displayed in your column, we'll all be there in no time.
Jaime Hyland
Heinrich-Mann-Str, 26
13156 Berlin
Germany
