On 4 May, SPD Berlin Deputy Secretary Canan Bayram resigned from her post and left the party only to join the Greens a few days later, causing a public stir in the Turkish community.
Explaining her move, Bayram said the SPD was not pushing hard enough for policies which would ensure equal opportunities. "There are not enough women in top management and I was not taken seriously. Besides, the party does not pay enough attention to gender equality legislation," she said.
Before the storm had settled, another Berlin-based politician of Turkish descent quit the Greens to join the SPD. Bilkay Öney resigned from her party on 14 May and switched to SDP the next day.
Öney, a TV journalist who joined the ranks of the Berlin State Parliament in 2006, rebuffed allegations that she resigned because Bayram's arrival could push her aside. "This is not about jealousy between two politicians of Turkish descent. But rather an issue that should be of interest for the 80 million Germans and the 15 million immigrants," she said, arguing that the leading parties had made no effort to overcome the financial difficulties faced by ethnic Turks.
The politician added that she did not want to contribute to a coalition government, which together with the liberal FDP would stand to pursue "the same old policies".
"I don't think the row will influence the EU elections, but it might influence the German federal elections [in September]," said Andreas Goldberg, director of the Stiftung Zentrum für Türkeistuden. "Turkish people are traditionally quite conservative," he said, citing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government as an example. "It could be that in the future, Turks who have traditionally voted for the Social Democrats in Germany would vote for the Christian Democrats," he added.
Indeed, German Turks overwhelmingly support the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). A survey following the 2005 federal elections revealed that close to 90% voted for Gerhard Schröder's SPD/Green alliance.
There are currently 24 politicians of Turkish descent in the Bundestag and state assemblies, including the SPD's Vural Öger and Feleknas Uca of the Left Party. Former MEP Cem Özdemir left the European Parliament last November to become leader of the German Greens (EurActiv 17/11/08).
