60 years of recruitment agreement: "That was a lie of life on both sides"

Read the video transcript here

Two hearts beat in his chest.

As the son of Turkish guest workers, Kazim Abaci was first left by his parents, and later he followed them to Germany.

Uniting two cultures creates problems.

Not just for Abaci.

For a long time he didn't know where he belonged.

Kazim Abaci, son of guest workers

»I am someone who likes to live in Germany.

I identify with the values ​​of this society and in this respect: I am German, yes.

But a German with different roots. "

Kazim Abaci is a graduate economist and social economist.

He is known and loved in Hamburg's Sternschanze, the Turkish community appreciates him because he supports migrants who want to gain a foothold in Germany.

The recruitment agreement of 1961 with Turkey still shapes German society.

Kazim Abaci, son of guest workers

»My parents also came up with the idea at the time: We'll work for a few years and then go back.

And the German state has also assumed that we will bring the people, they should build up the country a bit and then leave.

That was a lie of life on both sides.

What happened to it: Now we have the third, fourth generation here. "

Come and stay unexpected - a fate that Abaci's family shares with many other guest worker families.

Since 2000, Kazim Abaci and his association “Entrepreneurs Without Borders” have been helping start-ups with a migration background to find their way around the jungle of German authorities, for example.

Turan Korak, restaurateur

“We started our families here, got married, had children.

My daughter - we work together in the family business, we feel good.

Of course there are always problems, but we try to overcome them with Mr. Abaci. "

It was a pragmatic agreement between Germany and Turkey that regulated how workers came into the country in a regulated manner.

Originally they were only supposed to stay for 2 years.

But many were needed longer and longer.

In the first ten years alone, 650,000 Turks left their homeland.

So did Kazim Abaci's parents.

Without him and his three siblings, they went to Germany - a decision for which the family pays a high price.

Kazim Abaci, son of guest workers

“They came to Hamburg in 1969, when I was five years old.

I lived with my grandparents for ten years.

Here we are four siblings with my grandmother; my parents came by car every two years.

In all honesty, I didn't really get to know my parents.

I tried to get to know them when I came to Hamburg because they only came to Turkey every two or three years for two weeks.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to lead such a proper family life. "

“My parents are on it.

My father, my mother with my younger brother. "

Kazim Abaci's parents worked in an asbestos factory in Hamburg.

Both later developed cancer.

Kazim's mother died early at 55, his father at 74.

Kazim Abaci, son of guest workers

“As children, they are left behind, abandoned.

Then they come here, their parents get sick.

Your mother dies.

Then you have to push your way through to get ahead.

In this respect, it was a very expensive climb and that leaves a strong mark.

This fate is not just my fate, I know many people with a similar fate. "

The guest workers took up jobs that were not attractive to Germans: unqualified and sometimes dangerous industrial work.

This is no longer the case today.

Nevertheless: Abaci and his team see the problems Turkish entrepreneurs have in Germany every day.

Often the name alone is a hurdle when starting a company.

Kazim Abaci, son of guest workers

"I would have liked to talk to Erkan."

“It is a little more difficult for them than those who might be called Thomas or Sabine.

For the future, I hope that all authorities and chambers will be so inclusive that it doesn't matter where you come from or how you look, but what does this person want? "

To make this a reality, Kazim Abaci drives to Hamburg City Hall.

The 56-year-old has been a member of the parliament for the SPD since 2011 and is a specialist spokesman for integration - from guest worker child to member of parliament.

Kazim Abaci, son of guest workers

»I am a little proud of the fact that I can do my part, also in politics, to make life a little better for other people.

Because of my biography in particular, it is not a matter of course that you sit in a German parliament.

But even 60 years after the first guest workers came to Germany from Turkey, only every tenth member of the German parliaments has a history of immigration.

Kazim Abaci is doing everything to change that.