Winners, Losers, Winners
By Dr. Jackson Janes

"Turkey lost. Too bad. But Germany will be European Champion."

So spoke a Turkish fan after the match between Turkey and Germany in the semifinals in the European Championship.

Much had been written about the match beforehand. There were many questions about the potential for post-game street violence. With more than two million Turks living in Germany, the game was linked to continuous debates about the degree to which they have become integrated in German society. The criticism of Turkish communities allegedly unwilling to adopt the language, customs and norms of German society has been part of Germany's domestic debates for years, as has the accusations against Germans as being intolerant and unwilling to accept them as equals in their society.

But on Wednesday evening, throughout Germany, wherever the game was watched on huge screens in urban centers, there was no evidence of deep-seated widespread hostilities in either camp. Germany won with a lucky goal at the very end of the match. Peppered by typically German critical journalists about the team's performance, Coach Joachim Löw confessed the team was not at its best, but, as he said, "we are in the finals." After the game, the "we" was shared by Turks and Germans alike.

In the Turkish circles in Germany, the identification with a strong Turkish team seems to be a natural one. For the more than two million people living in Germany with Turkish backgrounds, it may not be their home, but Turkey does represent roots, including even the half million who have German passports.

Wednesday's match does not change the landscape of Germany's social challenges. There are problems in managing an increasingly diverse society marked by clashes over religion, cultural behavior and economic asymmetries. There is evidence of the development in many cities of parallel lives which do not intersect. Younger people born in Germany within Turkish circles have higher rates of unemployment and drop out of school earlier than their German peers, generally building resentment along the way.

At the same time, Germany has not seen the violence of Parisian suburbs filled with young people of Arab backgrounds. It has not seen major radicalization movements of young Turks like other European countries face amongst their respective Muslim minorities. There has been a cumulative development of a Turkish middle class with a personal stake in Germany and its future. In short, the diversity of Germany's largest ethnic group is a reflection of the diversity of German society itself.

The tension before the match on Wednesday reflects the continuing fragility of Germany's societal consensus on immigration policies and practices. But the atmosphere after the match testified to the potential that multiple identities need not mean combative behavior. In fact, it is more the rule than the exception that people maintain different levels of loyalties, each of which is relevant for different reasons.

The many ethnic loyalties held by Americans toward countries they may have never visited but have heard about from family members and heritage are mostly personal choices. They need not interfere with responsibilities toward the country of citizenship. Yet it is via the process of defining those responsibilities that we shape the inclusive and exclusive nature of the identities with which we want to associate. The pitched battles which took place between the Irish, German and/or Italian immigrants in the streets of nineteenth century New York are impossible to imagine more than a century later. But the opportunities connected with those identities have been replaced by other opportunities today. Hence the hyphenated American is - or should be - at the end of the day an American. The record on that is imperfect, to say the least; the sorry state of our debates over immigration today is the latest example. But that is the goal as we would like to see it.

Hyphenated Germans are more prevalent than not, even if not expressed that way. The local, regional and religious identities have remained intact throughout Germany. And those who came from other parts of Europe hold on to their heritage as well. That has also not been without conflict and violence along the way.

The more recent presence of non-European groups in German society, and indeed, European societies at large, has become another chapter in the debates over the content and the boundaries of identities. That both can and do evolve is demonstrated in history, for better and for worse. The success stories are those in which the multiple identities can be integrated in the name of something bigger than individuals - without being forced to do so - and are given a shared stake in the effort.

What we saw this week in a soccer match was an example of that. Germans and Turks alike in Germany watched a good game together. One side had to win, one side had to lose. But it was less a zero sum game than it was a sense of pride in the competition itself for the European Championship. Sharing that goal brought them together, as it was bigger than themselves; that offers hope for the future.

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This essay appeared in the June 27, 2008, AICGS Advisor.

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Want to know more?

"After 3-2 Victory for Germany, Turks and Germans Party Side-by-Side," Der Spiegel Online, June 26, 2008.

"Whom Will the Turks Cheer Now?" by Andrew Purvis, Time Magazine, June 25, 2008.

"Germany vs. Turkey: Germany's "Two" Football Teams Face Off," Agence France-Presse, June 24, 2008.

"A Question of Integration? Born and Raised in Germany - But Playing for Turkey," Der Spiegel Online, June 24, 2008.