KEBABBLE Germany's anthem anathema By Fazile Zahir
FETHIYE, Turkey - Perhaps the most interesting place in the European Union for
Turks is Germany. This is where the largest number of their brethren outside of
the home country reside. An estimated 3 million Turks and descendants work and
play, live and love throughout Germany, but the question plaguing their hosts
is, "What language do they think in?"
Hans-Christian Stroebele made it clear that he thought he had the answer. The
Green Party member of parliament (MP) put a motion to the legislature asking
for an official translation of the third, and most commonly sung, verse of the
national anthem into Turkish.
Across Europe, Green MPs are well known for their radical and
often futuristic thinking, and Stroebele is no exception. He was quoted as
saying that he regarded such an act "as a symbol of harmony. It would symbolize
the wide array of languages spoken in Germany."
Harmony is not what his motion has produced, but Stroebele is used to the
controversy. He's the same MP who proposed in 2004 that some Muslim holidays
should receive state recognition and some Christian ones be dropped from the
German holiday calendar to make time for them.
Stroebele is seen by some as selling out the nation and as a forward-thinking
peace seeker by others. Whichever side of the fence one favors, Germany as a
whole has been provoked into disquiet by the proposal. Yet a survey last June
by Bild newspaper showed that even Germany's most famous celebrities, including
pop star Daniel Kueblboeck, actress Marialle Ahrens, artist Ingrid Steeger and
Olympic medal winner Birgit Fischer, can't sing the anthem correctly. The
survey was prompted by the infamous "Sarah Connor incident" when pop singer
Connor was embarrassingly unable to sing the national anthem correctly in front
of an audience at the opening concert at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich.
The controversy has rumbled on in the shape of television discussions and
endless column-inches. In the meantime, the German Turks have taken matters
into their own hands and made Stroebele's fantasy a real song.
Three Hamburg musicians of Turkish extraction came together in the studio last
week for a one-off collaboration under the project name Einwanderungtrio (The
Patriotic Trio - Vatandaslik Uclusu) to record the Turkish lyrics as translated
and interpreted by film director Ayhan Salar. One of the trio, Orhan Simsek,
explained how Salar had approached them and how they set about putting the
Turkish lyrics to the melody of the German national anthem using traditional
Turkish musical instruments. One thousand compact discs will be pressed with
the Turkish and German flags on the cover, and Simsek says the aim of the CD is
"friendship and unity". The trio plan to sign the first CD and send it to
Stroebele.
Not everyone has been as positive as the Einwanderungtrio. The head of the
Green Party and former agriculture minister Renate Kunast seemed anxious to
play down the affair. Stroebele, she said, must have "confused the first of May
with the first of April" (April Fool's Day). In contrast to his party leader's
dismissive attitude, Stroebele has had the support of the Liberal Party. Its
spokeswoman for "integration and immigration" Sibylle Laurischk said, "This
could be a good way to help immigrants in our country better understand our
culture."
The German public was not convinced, and on a website poll started by Der
Spiegel news magazine to canvass public opinion, the vote stands at 88%
against the national anthem in Turkish. Deputy parliament floor leader Wolfgang
Bosbach (a leading member of the conservative Christian Democrat Party) had
this comment: "The German national anthem in Turkish would be the opposite of
integration. Learning to speak and write the German language is the key
qualification ... all we need now is for someone to demand that the muezzin
call for prayer from the top of the Cologne Cathedral."
Conservative Germany thinks that the foreign-language anthem idea is the
desecration of a national symbol. Politicians from all party groups have
responded with ridicule and derision. But would such an outcry have been
generated if the large Italian or Polish immigrant community had wanted to sing
the anthem in Italian or Polish? Probably not, but then the streets aren't full
of dark-headed Italians shouting about discrimination. The suggestion of a
Turkish-language anthem is a reminder to native Germans that these immigrants
have not just come to Germany to bake bread, sweep the streets, wash dishes and
generally labor at the behest of the Teutons.
What differentiates ethnically Turkish citizens is that unlike other immigrant
groups they are not prepared to abandon their mother tongue or culture. The
largest minority in Germany is speaking, reading, writing and dreaming in a
wholly foreign language. The anthem proposal has inadvertently announced
something the Germans have been dreading for years, the possibility that their
country is on its way to becoming bilingual.
Although there is the distinct possibility of an ugly nativist backlash, there
are some commentators who suggest that Germany show it can accept diversity and
tolerance, and that in an atmosphere of Islamic paranoia the wonders of the
growing Turkish population should be part of the great debate about evolving
national identity. After all, no one has suggested that native Germans sing the
Turkish version.
The crux of the issue (as with the Spanish version of The Star Spangled Banner
in the US) is whether the music or the words are the important thing. Perhaps
the debate will show that Germany's Turkish population, while prepared to dance
to the Germans' tune, don't want to sing from the same hymn sheet.
Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She
moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full-time since then.
