![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/art1.jpg\" "\\"art\\"")
<\/p>\n26 October 2011, Wednesday \/ HAT\u0130CE AHSEN UTKU, \u0130STANBUL<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was 50 years ago when thousands of Turkish workers, all filled with hope and expectations, waved at their families and loved ones from trains headed for Germany.<\/p>\n
It was the year 1961 when the bittersweet story that was to connect Turkey and Germany started. It was when the word \u201cimmigration\u201d would gain new meanings and dimensions for Turks. It was when Turkey and Germany signed the Gastarbeiter protocol — the Worker Recruitment Agreement. During the 50 years that have passed since, many things have irreversibly changed.<\/p>\n
The 50th anniversary of such a seminal event is now being commemorated via a host of art events by the Goethe-Institut \u0130stanbul, from stage plays to films, and from conferences to concerts, workshops and exhibitions from Oct. 20 through Dec. 10.<\/p>\n
One of the main events of the project, an exhibition titled \u201cFiktion Okzident\u201d (Fiction Occident), features the works of 18 artists at the Tophane-i Amire Cultural Center. Another event on the lineup, a film program titled \u201cKar\u015f\u0131dan Bak\u0131\u015f — G\u00f6\u00e7 ve Sinema\u201d (A Look from Across: Migration and Cinema), provides a selection of films exploring the perspective of \u201cthe other.\u201d Other events include concerts and workshops by Turkish-German hip hop artist Sultan Tun\u00e7 at Babylon; the project \u201cGidenlerin \u00d6yk\u00fcs\u00fc\u201d (The Story of Those who Left), which will be detailed in an upcoming documentary that follows a train headed for Munich from \u0130stanbul\u2019s Sirkeci Railway Station on Oct. 26; and the conferences \u201cUlusa\u015f\u0131r\u0131 G\u00f6\u00e7\u201d (Supranational Migration) and \u201cG\u00f6\u00e7 ve Edebiyat\u201d (Migration and Literature) at Bilgi University\u2019s Dolapdere Campus. Finally, a musical titled \u201cYa\u015famay\u0131 Beklerken\u201d (Waiting to Live), written by Anja Tuckermann and Haluk Y\u00fcce, will be staged at the Beyo\u011flu Kumbarac\u013150 as the closing event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to focus Turkish attention on the positive developments of the migrants in Germany and to bring the two cultures closer together, the Goethe-Institut is organizing a wide-ranging program with exhibitions, readings, lectures, concerts, workshops, theatrical performances and a film series,\u201d explains Claudia Hahn-Raabe, the director of the Goethe-Institut \u0130stanbul in an interview with Today\u2019s Zaman.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 German-Turkish cultural history is characterized by mutual projections, romantic fantasies and prejudices. These imaginary worlds exist on both sides. They are part of the mental foundations of the social, cultural and political German-Turkish reality. When on Oct. 10, 1961, a recruitment contract with Turkey was signed and millions of workers from Turkey were recruited, these notions were put on an entirely new and much broader social and cultural footing. A large percentage of the 2.4 million people of Turkish origin now were born in Germany. They know Turkey only from travels and from what they were told. While many are successfully integrated, there are still strong feelings of alienation on both sides, in large part caused by cultural differences and ignorance. These feelings result in rejection by some groups of the native population and partial withdrawal into the oft quoted \u2018ethnic niches\u2019 by some of the Turks. So this program will reflect the cultural, political and social effects of a shared history,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
For Hahn-Raabe, there are many lessons to be learned — for both the Turkish and the German sides — from this long-term experience. \u201cThe cultures of both countries need to be aware that an appropriate manner of dealing with the history of migration is overdue,\u201d she notes. \u201cGermany needs to come to terms with the fact that it is an immigrant country. It must expand its integrative efforts and take care to avoid negatively biased press coverage. Above all, it needs to oppose the negative connotation of the terms \u2018Turkish immigrants\u2019 and \u2018Germans of Turkish origin.\u2019 The same is true of the Turkish side,\u201d she notes. \u201c\u2018Against each other\u2019 needs to become \u2018with each other,\u2019 but this can only happen when both sides know and respect one another. Exchange between the two countries therefore needs to intensify, especially in the cultural sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this context, the Goethe-Institut felt committed to undertake a project that would cover the issue in the broadest way possible. \u201cWe have decided on a wide-ranging program with an exhibition, readings, lectures, concerts, workshops, a theater performance and a film series in order to present our mutual history in as many facets as possible,\u201d says Hahn-Raabe. \u201cAnd as a matter of principle, all of the events are organized together with Turkish partners,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
Shift in time, shift in perspective<\/p>\n
This is definitely not the first time that Turkish workers\u2019 migration to Germany has been the subject of art and literature; on the contrary, there has been quite a large number of works on the issue. However, was there no shift in perspective since 50 years ago? According to Hahn-Raabe, is answer is affirmative. \u201cAt the beginning of the \u201970s, the problems of the guest workers were primarily dealt with. The term \u2018guest workers\u2019 in itself is telling,\u201d she explains, and continues: \u201cIn the \u201980s, the so-called second generation became the focus. These people were either already born in Germany or had moved there at an early age. They differed from the first generation in the importance they gave to questions of identity and their existence between two cultures. The term \u2018guest worker\u2019 was now changed to \u2018migrant\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Hahn-Raabe, the following decade and the following generations were destined to be more promising in terms of coexistence. \u201cSince the \u201990s, the differentiation between the generations has faded,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, artists of Turkish background are individually noticed, known by name and accepted as part of the German cultural landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
This evolution has its reflections on productions as well. While films and stories about the adaptation and identity problems of the Turkish immigrants were very popular in the earlier decades, the focus of the artwork has shifted to a different point of view as well. \u201cBy now the image of the erstwhile guest worker has changed considerably,\u201d indicates Hahn-Raabe. \u201cThe artists and their works are increasingly perceived as detached from possible historical or problematic connotations. Eminent examples are the film director Fatih Ak\u0131n, the writer Zafer \u015eenocak and the music group Microphone Mafia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given this shift in time and perspective, the project is expected to reflect this variety. \u201cWe would like to show as diverse a picture of our common history as possible and underscore the changes that have happened,\u201d notes Hahn-Raabe. \u201cTherefore, we have invited artists of the first, second and third generations, and have organized cooperation opportunities between German artists, artists of Turkish descent living in Germany and Turkish artists. For the central exhibition project \u201cFiction Occident\u201d 18 contemporary artists whose work deals with these imaginary worlds and their clash with reality were invited. Among them are artists who were born in Turkey and today work in Germany, artists who were born in Germany and commute between the two countries and artists in Turkey who reflect the consequences of internationalization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Happily, the project is not confined to \u0130stanbul, as it also incorporates Germany. \u201cParts of the program series will also be seen in Germany,\u201d explains Hahn-Raabe, adding: \u201cFor instance, the exhibition \u2018Fiction Occident\u2019 will go to Berlin in the spring of 2012, and the concert with Microphone Mafia and Ayben may go to Munich in cooperation with TRT T\u00fcrk. All German migrants in Turkey are invited to the events and politicians such as Cem \u00d6zdemir, Dr. Anna Prinz from the German Foreign Office and North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of Labor Guntram Schneider will participate. Moreover, many events will be organized by German cities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
26 October 2011, Wednesday \/ HAT\u0130CE AHSEN UTKU, \u0130STANBUL It was 50 years ago when thousands of Turkish workers, all filled with hope and expectations, waved at their families and loved ones from trains headed for Germany. It was the year 1961 when the bittersweet story that was to connect Turkey and Germany started. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":46027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[7405,1458],"class_list":["post-46026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-germany","tag-50th-anniversary","tag-turks-living-in-germany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}