As of: March 18, 2024, 9:18 p.m
By: Peter Sieben
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Serap Güler is the daughter of Turkish immigrants and, as a CDU member of the Bundestag, has an eye on integration policy.
Above all, she sees a problem.
Berlin – Serap Güler knows what hot spots can look like.
The CDU member of the Bundestag grew up as the daughter of Turkish immigrants in the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia; her father worked as a miner.
Anyone who grows up deep in the West also knows the problems there.
Knows districts like Duisburg-Marxloh or Essen-Altenessen that are considered structurally weak.
Just like Berlin-Neukölln at the other end of the republic.
Or Bremen North.
Serap Güler (CDU) has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021.
© Peter Sieben
CDU politician Serap Güler: “If you have no chance of getting a job, then something will happen to you”
They are all immigration regions, people from different nations live next to each other.
Many have Turkish or Arabic roots.
And there have been social upheavals there for a long time.
Serap Güler also blames political decisions for this.
“Of course, mistakes have been made in migration policy in the last few decades,” said Serap Güler in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
“We still had Turkish classes in the Ruhr area in the 80s.
All the Turkish children were put in a class where only Turkish was spoken.” It was thought that the families would go back and not have to learn German.
“Another example: A fellow student of mine came from the Lebanese community in Essen, where many still only have a tolerated status.
After graduating, I quickly had my first interviews, but he didn’t have any at all,” says Serap Güler.
“It had nothing to do with him being worse.
The only difference was that he was just tolerated.
If you don’t even get a chance, even though you’ve successfully completed your studies, then that’s something that affects you.”
Arab-Lebanese community: Many deny their origins
This inequality of opportunity is still reflected in everyday life today.
People from the Arab-Lebanese community repeatedly report that they have difficulty getting housing.
Or a job.
Even if they have long had a residence permit.
Ahmad Omeirat knows such experiences all too well, as he recently told
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
He himself came to Germany as a refugee child from Lebanon in the 1980s.
“When people from the Lebanese community come into a police checkpoint and the police officers see their names, the tone immediately becomes harsh: 'Get out immediately!',” said the local politician, who sits on the Essen city council for the Greens.
Many would deny their origins out of fear of such situations: “I know a dental assistant who doesn’t wear her name tag in the practice.”
So-called “clan crime”: “We’re talking about forced prostitution, drug trafficking, extortion of protection money.”
Experts see the fact that many families with an Arab-Lebanese background still have a tolerated status as a reason why criminal networks have formed within large families over time due to a lack of prospects.
Because: People with toleration status are generally not allowed to work, and training is only possible upon application.
This is often summarized under the controversial term “clan crime”.
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The term clan crime
► When people talk about criminal clans in Germany, they often mean criminal members of large families with Kurdish-Lebanese roots.
Most people from these families are not criminals.
However, a few subclans have formed groups that commit crimes in the area of organized crime.
► Many belong to the so-called Mhallami, an ethnic group of Arab origin.
Their ancestors were expelled from Turkey after the First World War and then came to Lebanon.
When there was a civil war there (1975 to 1990), many of the families fled to Germany.
► As stateless people, many received tolerated status and were unable to do any regular work.
Asylum seekers and tolerated persons are generally banned from working in Germany.
CDU politician Güler only accepts this theory to a limited extent: “There are a lot of people who have to solve problems on their own and still don't become criminals.
When it comes to clans, we’re not talking about opportunistic theft, but about forced prostitution, drug trafficking, protection money extortion, i.e. really tough forms of organized crime.”