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THE NEW BERLINERS

IMMIGRATION

‘I don’t feel at home here, it’s clear I’ll remain a foreigner’

The Local’s series The New Berliners explores the lives of immigrants from around the world in Germany’s capital. For the eighth installment, Julia Lipkins spoke with Turkish bridal shop owner Sahes Tascioglu.

Published: 12 November 2010 14:48 CET

‘I don’t feel at home here, it’s clear I’ll remain a foreigner’

Photo: Julia Lipkins

Berlin has long been a magnet for outsiders, from provincial Prussians centuries ago to Brooklyn hipsters today. Strangers at first, these newcomers eventually make the city their own and reshape its social fabric.

This process continued even while Berlin was divided during the Cold War, but 20 years after reunification, the German capital has become an increasingly attractive destination for foreigners hoping to start a new life.

Julia Lipkins’ multimedia project for The Local lets these new Berliners tell their own stories.

Sahes Tascioglu

Eskisehir, Turkey

Click here for Sahes Tascioglu’s story.

How does an immigrant define home? After living in Germany for over 40 years, Sahes Tascioglu finds answers in a Turkish proverb. Trained as a social worker, she is now the owner of a popular bridal-wear store.

Although Tascioglu moved to Germany at age 14, she has chosen to remain a Turkish citizen because non-EU immigrants are prohibited from holding dual-citizenship in Germany. According to the Foreign Ministry, of the “approximately three million people of Turkish origin” currently residing in Germany, only 700,000 have decided to take German citizenship.

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Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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