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3/25/07

NYT: After Lifetime in Germany, Turks Still Alone and Torn - by Mark Landler


For the complete report from the New York Times click on this link

After Lifetime in Germany, Turks Still Alone and Torn - by Mark Landler

The last cups of Turkish black tea had been drained, the platters of olives and goat cheese cleared, but the snowy-haired Turks lingered at the table.Four decades after the first Turks arrived as guest workers, they are reaching retirement in a land that still feels foreign. For Mr. Mermer and many others, it is a bleak time with the recognition that they will live out their days in a place where they had planned to stay only a few years.

Germany never planned on them staying, either, and now faces a looming social and financial burden. Of its 2.7 million people of Turkish origin, 320,000 are of retirement age. That is expected to double by 2020.

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