Germany is home to about three million people of Turkish descent, the largest population outside Turkey.
They began arriving in the 1960s as guest workers invited to offset a shortage of manpower. Despite this long history, the overwhelming majority of Turks do not feel any German identity. Only about 15 per cent feel that Germany is more their home than Turkey, according to Info GmbH, a Berlin research firm. The figure was six points higher in 2009.
There was a telling moment at Sunday’s rally in Cologne when a speaker called on the crowd to chant “We are Germany”. They answered with calls of Allahu akbar.
Researchers say that young Turks are becoming more religious in order to establish an identity they feel deprived