Turkish groups snub Merkel's bid to improve integration

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, defended her government's programme to improve the integration of immigrants after Turkish groups boycotted a meeting on the issue.

Three immigrant groups snubbed Ms Merkel's invitation to yesterday's "integration summit", saying planned changes to immigration law were discriminatory. Ms Merkel hailed the summit, attended by about 90 participants, as "a milestone in integration policy" and insisted that in follow-up talks the government's "hand remains outstretched" to all groups - including those who took part in the boycott.

Efforts to integrate Germany's estimated 15 million citizens and foreign nationals with an immigrant background have been a focus of Ms Merkel's coalition government. She held the first "integration summit" last July and another, to check the progress on goals laid out yesterday, is planned for 2008.

On Wednesday, the cabinet committed itself to spending €750m (£510m) a year on measures, including language and culture classes, youth sports and education programmes.

But representatives from key Turkish groups insist the measures are little more than window dressing. They argue that a recent immigration law, requiring that foreign spouses already have a basic knowledge of the German language and proof of solid financial support before they are granted a visa, discriminates against them.

They said they would not participate in the summit unless the law was changed, a demand that prompted Ms Merkel to say: "The German government does not respond to ultimatums."

Roughly 2.6 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, which has a total population of 82 million, many of them now second and third generation German citizens. In the past, the government has made little effort to try to integrate them into German society, leading to large, predominantly Turkish-speaking communities.

"Simply Racism" screamed the Turkish daily Hurriyet on its front page, under a picture of Ms Merkel, in a comment on the new legislation.