| Time |
Events |
| 1961 |
Bilateral Recruitment Agreement with Turkey . A Central Recruitment Office is established in Istanbul, and by the year’s end, 7,000 Turkish workers are living in Germany. |
| 1962 |
Founding of the first Turkish social and political organization in Germany, the Union of Turkish Workers in the Cologne Region. |
| March 1962 |
Conflicting information about taxation rates of salaries leads Turkish miners in Essen and Hamburg to stage a strike. 26 workers are fired and deported. |
| June 15, 1963 |
The International Committee for Information and Social Action founds monthly newspaper Anadolu—a newspaper for Turks living in Germany. |
| 1964 |
West German Radio begins Turkish language broadcasts under the name Köln Radyosu throughout the West German territory. |
| September 30, 1964 |
Renewal of the Guest worker agreement between the West German and Turkish Republics. |
| 1965 |
WDR and ZDF begin to produce television series such as Neighbors, Our Homeland/Your Homeland, and later Babylon, geared towards the Turkish viewership. |
| 1965 |
2,700 Turks live in West Berlin. Guest workers who have been employed in West Germany for five years may now receive an automatic five-year renewal of their work permit, regardless of whether they are citizens of a European country. |
| 1967 |
Founding of the Turkish Union (Türk Federasyonu). |
| 1971 |
Three daily Turkish newspapers: Akşam (Evening), Tercüman (The Interpreter), and Hürriyet ( Liberty ) print editions for migrant readership in Germany. |
| July 21, 1972 |
Turkish General Consul Metin Kusdaloglu greets Necati Güven, the 500,000th guest worker recruited at the Istanbul Recruitment Office, at the Munich Airport. |
| 1973 |
Turks account for 23% of all foreigners living in Germany. A strike at the Cologne Ford factory leads to press debates on the "politicization of foreign workers". |
| July 30, 1973 |
Spiegel magazine’s cover headline reads "Ghettos in Germany - 1 Million Turks" |
| November 23, 1973 |
West Germany halts recruitment of Guest workers. Many Guest workers, fearing imminent anti-immigration laws, arrange for family members to join them in Germany, thus leading to an increase in immigrant populations, rather than the decrease sought by the West German government. |
| 1975 |
The West German government decrees that no foreigners may move to a neighborhood or region where the percentage of foreigners exceeds 12% of the entire population. |
| December 8, 1981 |
West German law prohibits children over the age of 16 from joining their parents in Germany. Younger children who have at least one parent in the home country also may not immigrate to Germany. |
| May 26, 1982 |
Semra Ertan lights herself on fire in the Hamburg Marketplace to protest an increase in xenophobia. |
| November 28, 1983 |
A new law for the Promotion of Readiness to Return (Das Gesetz zur Förderung der Rückkehrbereitschaft) offers jobless Guest workers 10,500 DM to return to their country of origin. Only 13,000 individuals make use of this option. |
| November 9, 1989 |
Fall of the Berlin Wall |
|
| Time |
Events |
| 1990 |
TRT, Turkey ’s state-run television and radio corporation, begins daily broadcasts to Germany. |
| 1991 |
Emine Sevgi Özdamar, a Turkish writer/actress living in Berlin, wins the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Great controversy over the state of “German” literature ensues. |
| November 22, 1992 |
An arson attack in Moelln (Schleswig-Holstein) kills three Turkish women. |
| May 29, 1993 |
An arson attack in the city of Solingen, kills five Turkish residents, all members of a family that had lived in Germany for 23 years. The attack leads to many pro-Turkish/anti-xenophobia demonstrations and to a public discussion about right-wing activities and skinheads in Germany. |
| June 30, 1993 |
The naturalization of foreigners is governed by the Nationality Act of 1913 and a number of special acts. In order to facilitate the integration of foreigners who were born in Germany, have grown up there or have lived there for at least 15 years, they have a legal entitlement to naturalization under sections 85ff. of the Aliens Act as amended on this day. |
| 1993 |
Teams of the German Soccer League participate in the “Peacefully With One Another” project by wearing a slogan on their uniforms which reads 'My friend is a foreigner'. |
| 1994 |
Leyla Onur and Cem Özdemir become the first elected Bundestag representatives of Turkish descent. |
| January 1998 |
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 9.37 million foreigners live in Germany, 2.11 million are Turks. |
| July 1998 |
CDU election platform seeks to reduce immigration by reducing government subsidized housing for foreigners, and rejecting the possibility of dual citizenship. |
| November 1998 |
Newly-appointed Commissioner for Foreigners Marieluise Beck (Greens) plans to develop an image for Germany as a 'country of immigration'. Berlin schools may legally provide Islamic education to pupils, after a court battle between the school district and the Islamic Federation in Berlin. Failed appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court to prohibit Bavaria from deporting a 14-year old legal offender born in Germany to Turkey. |
| 2000 |
7.3 million legally resident foreigners in Germany; 2 million are Turkish citizens, 750,000 of whom were born in Germany. |
| 2000 |
New citizenship law takes effect. Children born to foreigners in Germany automatically receive Germany citizenship, as long as one parent has been a legal resident for at least eight years. Children can also hold the nationality of their parents, but must decide to be citizens of one country before the age of 23. |
| 2010 |
Chancellor Angela Merkel says that Germany being a multicultural nation has utterly failed. |
| 2011 |
About 4 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany. |
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