every generation since citizenship is not obtained by birth on the national territory
(Koopmans 1999).
The division between foreigners and Germans has important consequences for
Turkish immigrants and their chances of access to certain professional and political
positions. For instance, among such central representatives of the state such as the police,
the army or the judiciary, one can hardly find a representative of the Turkish minority.
Turks are seldom confronted with police officers from the same ethnic background, while
German citizens almost never have contact with representatives of law and order who are
of Turkish descent. Similarly, the ethnic boundaries are strengthened in the main
socialization institutions of a society, the schools. Since the teachers’ profession is
reserved only for those who have German citizenship according to the law, Turkish
students are not confronted with Turkish teachers who could serve them as a role model.
At the same time, German students do not have the experience that someone from a
foreign background can be in a position of authority (Koopmans 1999).
This exclusion is also true of the political profession. In the German Bundestag that
was elected in 1998 only three of more than 500 MP’s were of foreign descent. The
political representation of immigrants is restricted to the marginal institutions of the
federal and local Foreigners’ Commissioners and the local Foreigners’ Advisory Councils
which have very little resources and no decision-making power at all. The division
between the Turkish immigrants and Germans is reproduced each day on Germany’s
streets, in schools, and in the parliament. Definitions of citizenship thus have a strong
impact on the ways Turkish immigrants are perceived by the German society and the
ways they define themselves and their relationship with the majority society. Since most
Convention