Germany: Turks to lose representation in parliament

Germany: Turks to lose representation in parliament

The chairman of the Turkish Community in German (TGD), Kenan Kolat, says that there are too few immigrants on the party lists for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Kolat, who is a member of the SPD, says: "We're not asking for a quota on immigrants on the party lists, but the parties should give a fair chance, even if the candidate has a Turkish name".

at this moment there are five German Turks in parliament. There are about two dozen German Turkish candidates in the coming elections, but they're at the bottom of the party lists. Turkish newspaper Hürriyet says that after the elections not more than 2 or 3 German Turks will get into Parliament.

The Greens chairperson Cem Özdemir, who in 1994 became the first Turk in the German parliament, might lose his seat against SPD candidate Ute Vogt in Stuttgart. Özdemir says that immigrants are not yet the norm in politics.

Source: NRP (Dutch), from Spiegel (German)

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