WEBVTT 00:01.000 --> 00:15.000 [What does 'migratn worker' mean to you?] It means so very many things: I am connected to it on many levels - on the one hand, 30th of October is the anniversary of the 'Anwerbeabkommen' [bilateral agreement] with Turkey - 00:16.000 --> 00:24.000 between West Germany (the Federal Republic) and Turkey. And that's actually where my family history started. 00:25.000 --> 00:35.000 So if there hadn't been this agreement, I wouldn't be here, and if there hadn't been other agreements with other countries that initiated the migration of guest workers 00:36.000 --> 00:47.000 or made it possible, the country [Germany] would look very different, in so many ways. I don't think we can imagine what that would look like. 00:48.000 --> 01:03.000 For me personally, it is connected to my family: My family comes from the east of Turkey - well, the majority still lives there, more than 90 per cent - 01:05.000 --> 01:11.000 and like many people, my grandfathers came to Germany as guest workers. 01:12.000 --> 01:22.000 One of them followed the way, that was planned by politicians: he worked here for two or three years. 01:22.000 --> 01:26.000 He came as a minor - that's actually very special, as I found out later - 01:28.000 --> 01:35.000 and he was happy for a while, but then he wanted to go back to his village and he has been living there again since the 1970s. 01:36.000 --> 01:46.000 The other grandfather also came in 1970 - directly to Berlin (the other one went to Lower Saxony) and that's how I am connected to Berlin 01:47.000 --> 01:56.000 because he went to Berlin Schöneberg - one was not allowed to choose freely where to live, he was sent there but would not want to leave after a while 01:58.000 --> 02:09.000 and then my father joined, ten years later. Otherwise I wouldn't be here, because my family has found its place in Germany as a result. 02:11.000 --> 02:20.000 I have talked about my father's father before but also my mother had these connections 02:21.000 --> 02:28.000 and what is important to understand is that we have always had migration in Germany and that it didn't stop with the guest workers in 1973, because then it really started, 02:35.000 --> 02:45.000 then the family came and there were already communities here, linguistic ones, and you knew if there were problems somewhere or you wanted change, you could come to Germany 02:46.000 --> 02:54.000 and you could already arrive somewhere - this means that a [transnational] culture and also a kind of longing developed. On the one hand, there is the longing here, towards the country of origin, 02:55.000 --> 03:05.000 but there was also the longing of many people from Turkey: Ah, there is something where we can also see ourselves, it must be special there and so on. 03:06.000 --> 03:10.000 So with me it's just this family history, but also this year it's particularly on my mind, 03:11.000 --> 03:24.000 because I am also very active in migrant organisations myself, also politically, and this simply comes up again and again. 03:25.000 --> 03:33.000 On the one hand I notice that there is already some interest in the topic, but it is actually very limited, so there is not a general interest in society, 03:34.000 --> 03:43.000 where people say: Wow, a quarter to one third of our population have a migration history, and we are now going to deal with this in particular this year. 03:44.000 --> 03:50.000 But there are some specific places, organisations that deal with it. Exactly.