{"id":18098,"date":"2025-06-27T11:52:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=18098"},"modified":"2025-06-27T11:52:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:52:02","slug":"germanys-little-istanbul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany’s ‘Little Istanbul’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between all the bratwurst, techno, and Ampelm\u00e4nnchen, the city of Berlin is also home to one of the largest Turkish communities outside of Turkey. So much so that parts of the German capital have earned the nickname \u2018Little Istanbul\u2019. Walking through districts like Kreuzberg and Neuk\u00f6lln, you\u2019ll find yourself surrounded by the sights, sounds, and scents reminiscent of Istanbul itself. Turkish grocery stores line the streets, banks and barber shops have Turkish names, and conversations in Turkish fill the air. Even the street signs, in some areas, appear in both German and Turkish.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Serkan Bing\u00f6l, a 37 year old teacher, is born and raised Berliner. His grandfather was one of the many gastarbeiters that came over to help rebuild the country. But even two generations later, Bing\u00f6l\u2019s ties to Turkey and Turkish culture are still strong. While he hasn\u2019t been there for a few years, he normally visits the country very regularly. \u201cBerlin is not a typical German city; it has a high proportion of foreigners\u201d says Bing\u00f6l. \u201cCompared to other cities, it doesn\u2019t always feel like a traditional German place. Among the foreign population, Turks make up the largest group.\u201d As of 2023, Turks in Berlin make up a total of 191,397 residents, but it is important to note that these numbers are calculated by only looking at the birthplace of these individuals, rather than their ethnicity, which means that there are much more Turks living in Berlin than statistics show.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”18111″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

In some neighbourhoods, the community is so ingrained, that you can easily get by without ever having to speak German. \u201cYou can go shopping at Turkish butchers and supermarkets, see a Turkish doctor, and even visit a Turkish dentist. You can function entirely within the Turkish community.\u201d However, Bing\u00f6l believes that this does create a barrier for integration. \u201cIf you want to learn the language and integrate, this environment makes it harder. Since you don\u2019t need to speak German, you might not put in the effort to learn. For example, my mother has lived here for decades but knows very little German because she never needed to use it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A new diverse subculture<\/b><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s not just the people and businesses that intertwine; the food, for example, does too. Berlin, after all, is where the modern d\u00f6ner kebab was invented. There is an entirely new subculture that has roots tracing back all the way to the 1960\u2019s, when Germany and The Netherlands invited Turkish \u2018Gastarbeiters\u2019 (guest workers) to help rebuild the post-war economy. \u201cThey were initially meant to stay for a short period, and then go back, but many stayed\u201d, says Furkan Erta\u015f, history teacher and third generation descendant of a Turkish guestworker. \u201cThe pull factor to Germany and the Netherlands was just too strong. Especially economically speaking, it was way better to be here than back in Turkey. So they stayed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Turkish population in itself is also very diverse \u2014 there are conservatives, liberals, left-wing and right-wing people, religious individuals, and secular ones. \u201cThere have been many waves of Turkish migration since the sixties\u201d, says Erta\u015f. Initially it was people from the countryside, then came a lot of Kurdish people, and in the 2000s, a lot of political immigrants. \u201cAnd they usually group together, just like any other group would.\u201d However, some neighbourhoods are more Turkish than others. In Bing\u00f6l\u2019s primary school for example, until 4th or 5th grade, he was the only Turkish student in his class. \u201cIf I had studied in Kreuzberg, for instance, at least half the students would have been Turkish\u201d, he states.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”18112″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Integration in the city<\/b><\/h5>\n

Besides teaching, Bing\u00f6l also volunteers as chairman for a refugee aid organization called <\/span>Aktion f\u00fcr Fl\u00fcchtlingshilfe. <\/span><\/i>They organise integration programs for incoming refugees and various social events to encourage the local community to welcome refugees positively, among other things. One of these events is a \u2018language caf\u00e9\u2019, where native German speakers and refugees meet and discuss current events, politics and other topics in a high-level German setting. \u201cWe don\u2019t just have basic conversations; we engage in proper discussions to help them integrate better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can state with certainty that about fifty percent of the first generation immigrants barely speak a word of German, because they simply don\u2019t have to\u201d, states Erta\u015f. \u201cHowever, I do believe those borders have been blurred over the years, into a new group.\u201d Turkish descendants now go outside of that Turkish bubble more often. They work government jobs, are in politics and make a big part of German society, all while still staying in touch with their Turkish roots, just like Serkan Bing\u00f6l. And so, over the years, Berlin\u2019s Turkish society has grown into a subculture of its own: Turkish-Berliners.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between all the bratwurst, techno, and Ampelm\u00e4nnchen, the city of Berlin is also home to one of the largest Turkish communities outside of Turkey. So much so that parts of the German capital have earned the nickname \u2018Little Istanbul\u2019. Walking through districts like Kreuzberg and Neuk\u00f6lln, you\u2019ll find yourself surrounded by the sights, sounds, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1132,"featured_media":18102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbj","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGermany's 'Little Istanbul' - International Journalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Germany's 'Little Istanbul' - International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Between all the bratwurst, techno, and Ampelm\u00e4nnchen, the city of Berlin is also home to one of the largest Turkish communities outside of Turkey. So much so that parts of the German capital have earned the nickname \u2018Little Istanbul\u2019. Walking through districts like Kreuzberg and Neuk\u00f6lln, you\u2019ll find yourself surrounded by the sights, sounds, and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-27T09:52:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lara van der Weele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lara van der Weele\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/\",\"name\":\"Germany's 'Little Istanbul' - International Journalism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-27T09:52:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/5f0a82d31d8acda7a6299b238600ff9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Germany’s ‘Little Istanbul’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/\",\"name\":\"International Journalism\",\"description\":\"HU School voor Journalistiek Nieuwssite\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/5f0a82d31d8acda7a6299b238600ff9b\",\"name\":\"Lara van der Weele\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b037f1588fd65de74bda30c5a68bbf6bf47b54d9914c3ac7f356d6853bb3ea44?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b037f1588fd65de74bda30c5a68bbf6bf47b54d9914c3ac7f356d6853bb3ea44?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lara van der Weele\"},\"description\":\"A journalist by heart, Lara van de Weele has had a connection to journalism since discovering her passion for it in her third year of high school. Now 21 years old, she still lives in Diemen, a town surrounded by Amsterdam. She enjoys writing, is curious, and relishes the opportunity to meet new people. Lara is particularly drawn to telling the stories of those who may not have the opportunity to write their own. Other than journalism, Lara enjoys reading, pop culture, and music. She also has a love for horse riding, media, and film. Her favourite movies and series currently include The Bear, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, and an all-time favourite, The Lion King.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/author\/lara-vanderweele\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Germany's 'Little Istanbul' - International Journalism","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Germany's 'Little Istanbul' - International Journalism","og_description":"Between all the bratwurst, techno, and Ampelm\u00e4nnchen, the city of Berlin is also home to one of the largest Turkish communities outside of Turkey. So much so that parts of the German capital have earned the nickname \u2018Little Istanbul\u2019. Walking through districts like Kreuzberg and Neuk\u00f6lln, you\u2019ll find yourself surrounded by the sights, sounds, and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/","og_site_name":"International Journalism","article_published_time":"2025-06-27T09:52:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lara van der Weele","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lara van der Weele","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/","name":"Germany's 'Little Istanbul' - International Journalism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-27T09:52:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/5f0a82d31d8acda7a6299b238600ff9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/06\/IMG_9884-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18098\/germanys-little-istanbul\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Germany’s ‘Little Istanbul’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/","name":"International Journalism","description":"HU School voor Journalistiek Nieuwssite","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/5f0a82d31d8acda7a6299b238600ff9b","name":"Lara van der Weele","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b037f1588fd65de74bda30c5a68bbf6bf47b54d9914c3ac7f356d6853bb3ea44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b037f1588fd65de74bda30c5a68bbf6bf47b54d9914c3ac7f356d6853bb3ea44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lara van der Weele"},"description":"A journalist by heart, Lara van de Weele has had a connection to journalism since discovering her passion for it in her third year of high school. Now 21 years old, she still lives in Diemen, a town surrounded by Amsterdam. She enjoys writing, is curious, and relishes the opportunity to meet new people. Lara is particularly drawn to telling the stories of those who may not have the opportunity to write their own. Other than journalism, Lara enjoys reading, pop culture, and music. She also has a love for horse riding, media, and film. Her favourite movies and series currently include The Bear, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, and an all-time favourite, The Lion King.","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/author\/lara-vanderweele\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}