"EURO-TURKS: THE PRESENCE OF TURKS IN EUROPE AND THEIR FUTURE"

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Feb 5 2008
Turkey

Euro-Turks

The Turkish entrepreneurs of Germany averaged 112,500 Euro of
investment per head and in total reached an investment volume of 7.7
billion Euro.

Prof. Dr. Faruk Þen, director of the Turkey Research Center Association
(TAM), recently published a book presenting the statistics he had
compiled while doing research on Turks living in the European Union.

He also chronicles his own experiences, as a Turk who has spent many
years in Germany. The book, "Euro-Turks: the Presence of Turks in
Europe and their Future", was published by the Turkish publishing
house Gunizi Yayýncýlýk.

TURKOFAMERICA has compiled some of the more striking data that come
straight from Prof. Þen’s book on the experience of these "Euro-Turks".

THE TURKISH POPULATION COMPRISES THE 19TH EU COUNTRY There are
5.2 million Turks living in the 27 countries of the European
Union. Approximately 1 million of this body of people consists of
a minority population of Turkish descent living in Bulgaria and
Romania. The remaining population is mostly a result of immigration
to EU countries from the 1960s on.

This 5.2 million population numbers close to the population of Denmark
and is almost twice the population of the Baltic states.

European Turks are basically the 28th country of the European Union.

Based on population, they would even be the 19th country in the union.

Forty-two percent of the Turkish immigrants living in EU countries are
citizens of that country. Forty-two percent is equivalent to 1,777,000
people. This is equal to the populations of Greek Cyprus, Malta,
and Luxembourg combined. Of that number, 625,000 are dual citizens.

ECONOMIC POWER After realizing that worker companies were unsuccessful,
from 1986 on many Euro-Turks and business owners began to implement
their dreams.

In many European cities, when the words "Turkish entrepreneurs" are
uttered many names come to mind, including Vural Oger, Ali Akkanat,
Ahmet Aydýn, Hulisi Bayam, Ahmet and Dicle Fýrat, Aydýn Yardýmcý,
Hilmi Selcuk, Gulcan Ayvalýk, Mehmet Coban, Kadir Uður, Muslum
Balaban and Bekir Akman, all businesspeople well-known and respected
in their fields.

The number of Turkish entrepreneurs in Germany numbered nearly 70,000
at the end of 2006. With the added countries of Bulgaria and Romania,
where there are many Turkish people doing business, that number
increases to 107,000.

68,300 ENTREPENEURS IN GERMANY In the 1990s among the Turkish
population in Germany, a growing number of people opted to form their
own companies. Entrepreneurs of Turkish descent, as the largest ethnic
group of entrepreneurs in the country, have served the function as
one of the largest powerhouses of business owners.

The number of Turks working freelance from November to December of
2006 reached 68,300. The increase from the year before, when there
were 64,600, was 5.7 percent. One out of every ten Turkish families
receives their main source of income from freelance work.

A TURNOVER OF 31.6 BILLION EURO There seems to be no neighborhood
in the cities of modern-day Germany where there is no Turk involved
in at least one sector, including gastronomy, trade, craftsmanship,
or a service-related business.

The average yearly turnover of 68,300 Turkish business owners working
in Germany is 31.6 billion Euro. A large number of the businesses that
average a yearly turnover of 462,000 Euro consist of family-owned and
-run businesses. The Turkish entrepreneurs of Germany averaged 112,500
Euro of investment per head and in total reached an investment volume
of 7.7 billion Euro.

THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!

It is striking how large a gulf there exists between the reality of
Turkish entrepreneurs and the image of them in the public eye. In
the public, Turkish entrepreneurs are thought to be mainly owners
of doner stands or produce sellers, and not a group that has many
representatives in a large number of sectors.

Over time, the doner stands became restaurants, the small-time doner
producers became large outfits, airline ticket sellers became large
travel agencies. A large percentage of Turkish business owners (78.3
percent) form individual companies.

There are 53,500 individual companies in Germany. While every one
out of ten has a partnership in a simple firm, the percentage of
limited companies is just 9.2 percent. According to findings by TAM,
the average age of Turkish entrepreneurs is 37.8.

Nearly 43.5 percent have German citizenship and the average amount of
time the person has lived there is 23.6 years. Most are men, although
the number of female entrepreneurs is growing. The percentage of
entrepreneurs that are women is 24.2 percent. Seventy-five percent
of the business owners have a trade degree.

TURKISH ENTREPRENEURS IN THE EU A large number of the Turkish
entrepreneurs in the EU (68 percent) live in Germany. France and
Holland follow close behind. In the 10-year period between 1996 and
2006, the investment volume of Turkish entrepreneurs increased from
5.6 billion Euro to 10.9 billion Euro.

The turnover of 21.8 billion Euro in 1996 has increased as of 2006
to 43.9 billion Euro. Alongside this increase in size and profit,
there has also been an increase in employment. In 1996 there were
232,000 employed whereas today the amount is 474,000.

When the Turkish population of Bulgaria and Romania (who became EU
members in early 2007) is taken into consideration, 23,500 Turkish
business owners can be added to that list. In this way, the number
of Turkish entrepreneurs has reached 124,500 in the EU at large.

THE PUSH FOR REAL ESTATE While the debate over whether foreigners
should be able to buy houses in Turkey or not is ongoing, more than
260,000 Turks in the EU already own a house, story, or property. In
other words, more than 25 percent of the property used by Euro-Turk
business owners belongs to them and a large number are fixing up
these buildings and renting them out.

At the beginning of 2006 the number of business owners that owned
their property in Europe had surpassed 255,000. At the beginning of
2007 this number began to push 280,000. The largest improvement in
property ownership has been witnessed in Germany. Of the Turks living
in Germany, 203,000 were property owners as of the end of 2006.

The net real estate wealth of Turkish households is about 9.7 billion
Euro. In the EU, the net real estate wealth of Turks is 12.2 billion
Euro. In Germany the household gross real estate wealth is 3.9 billion
Euro and the net real estate wealth is 2.9 trillion Euro.

LOBBYING ACTIVITIES AND SCHOLARLY COOPERATION Today in Germany
alone there are more than 2,300 active mosque associations and the
associations formed by Euro-Turks living in EU-member states number
more than 4,000. In line with Turkey’s desire, there is no strong
European Turkish lobby similar to the Armenian or Jewish lobbies
in Europe.

One reason for this is that there is no strong willingness on the
part of Turks living there and because they are not members of a
powerful country. In terms of politics, European Turks are quite
sophisticated. In Germany in particular, there are numerous politicians
of Turkish descent in political parties.

According to official figures, Turkey sends 130,000 students to 70
countries for purposes of study. Unofficial figures suggest a number
closer to 200,000. From Thailand to Georgia, Singapore to South Africa,
it is possible to run into Turkish students at the far corners of the
earth. Even in remote areas of the US, it is possible to find Turkish
students studying at universities, as there are nearly 40,000 Turkish
students studying there.

In Germany on the other hand, 95 percent of the Turkish students
studying higher education (or 36,000) are children of immigrants.

IN CONCLUSION Within the framework of marriage and population increases
in the European Union, the Turkish population there increases yearly
by 150-180,000. At the same time deaths are also increasing. The
population of Euro-Turks in 2023, if there are no large-scale changes,
will be a bit more than the population of Greece and will reach the
10 million mark.

In a Europe where an estimated 10 million Euro-Turks will live, will
Turkey itself be a part of the EU starting 1 January 2014? Although I
was initially quite optimistic about such a development, I no longer
retain hope regarding this issue and instead wish to proceed as though
it is not an eventuality.

Europe’s conservative nature, its own internal divisions and anti-Islam
attitude, and its dwindling resources will eventually make it seem
less attractive to Turkey. The EU will undoubtedly find a reason not
to take Turkey and for this reason Turkey-EU relations will always
be directed by the Euro-Turks.

Perhaps Turkey will find allegiance with the new economic powerhouses
of China and India and will use its strategic location on the border
of the EU to full advantage.

–Boundary_(ID_r9WA30llzunACL4DBuTsMA) —