Many Turkish Germans trace ancestry to Gastarbeiters (guest workers) and the fans are relishing a ‘home’ Euros
in Germany has the distinct air of a home tournament about it. “That Turkey qualified, and the national team is now here is a really nice feeling for me and many others of Turkish origin,” he says, trying to suss out via a weather app if he can trust the forecast enough before the Turkey v Georgia game on Tuesday to put out the cushions on the terrace of his café in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.
Some who failed to get tickets clambered up into the tree tops hoping for a glance into the training ground. They cheered Vincenzo Montella’s team with flags, homemade placards and cries of “Türkiye, Türkiye”. Many were already in national team kit or wore the shirts of their favourite Istanbul clubs. They hovered on the sidelines hoping for autographs or selfies with the stars, such as Real Madrid’s Arda Guler, Borussia Dortmund’s Salih Ozcan and the captain, Hakan Calhanoglu.
“If you look at the sense of delight, it seems to be something that is less political and rather more to do with joy and euphoria that the Turkish national team is in Germany, and that those who support Turkey in Germany have the feeling that they are the hosts for this national team,” he said.
But it was also the height of what were initially dismissed as the “Kebab murders”, a string of racist killings by a neo-Nazi terrorist group, the NSU, the main targets of which were ethnic Turks, but who were long under suspicion by authorities of having carried out the attacks among themselves. “This image of the, of a perfect world, a land without racism – it wasn’t quite correct. I remember seeing all the Germany flags at the windows, and feeling both appalled and happy,” he said.
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