German Chancellor Friedrich Merz credited Turkish guest workers with helping build Germany’s industrial strength at an Oct. 20 ceremony in Berlin marking a labor recruitment agreement with Türkiye.
Germany and Türkiye signed the agreement on Oct. 30, 1961. German companies needed workers, while poverty in parts of Türkiye encouraged migration, Merz said in a speech published by the German chancellery. The ceremony marked 65 years since the agreement.
Merz said the first generation contributed to Germany’s industrial capacity and prosperity. His account also described difficult housing in the workers’ early years and discrimination faced by migrants and later generations.
The chancellor pointed to contributions beyond industry by the workers’ children and grandchildren. He cited examples from medicine, literature, film and football, placing their work alongside that of the first generation in his account of Turkish migration to Germany.
