ANTALYA (A.A) - 25.05.2002 - Turkey Research Center (TAM) Foundation Chairman Faruk Sen has said that there were 2,5 million Turks living in Germany and almost 700,000 of these Turks became German citizens.
Sen stated that Turks living in Germany will make their voices heard more since they will participate in German politics more.
''There will be 700,000 Turks who will be German citizens until the general elections on Sept. 22, 2002 and 470,000 of them will vote during the elections,'' he said.
Sen also remarked that Germany's four political parties were revising their policies by considering the demands of the Turks.
''The number and power of Turks is increasing every passing day in Germany,'' he continued. ''There are 175,000 retired Turks in Germany and there are 65,000 German citizens living in Turkey. Germany wants some rights for German citizens who live in Turkey. The rights offered to Turks in Germany should also be offered to Germans in Turkey. There are about 2,300 mosques in Germany, therefore there should be churches for Germans in Turkey. The problems will be resolved more easily if Turkey joins the EU. German political parties take the votes of Turks very seriously because in some areas even one vote makes a difference.''
Sen said that Germans top the list of tourists visiting Turkey and added that German investors also started to make tourism investments in Turkey. He said that a new project that is being prepared in Turkey would allow Germans to buy residences in Turkey. He said that this would increase the number of German tourists coming to Turkey.