Racist attacks
By the 80s, the attacks of racist Germans and neo-Nazi gangs against Turks began. Until that day, those who were oppressed and excluded at every opportunity in the social field; Their home, their job, their education, their health, their beliefs, their labor, their rights... The Turks, who were ignored, also faced physical violence.
The children of workers who came to Germany at a young age or were born in Germany were the most affected by these attacks. These young people, who reached the age of maturity in the 80s, went to German schools, had German friends, spoke German, spent time on the street and were involved in social life, were the ones who saw all kinds of violence in the harshest way. Many Turkish youth formed gangs against neo-Nazi groups and wanted to protect their families, friends and themselves by fighting the Nazis in the streets. Many Turkish youths lost their lives in these fights.
Turks victimized by the Nazis
– June 1, 1981 / Ludwigsburg: 44-year-old Seydi Battal Koparan was beaten to death by members of the far-right motorcycle gang Stander Greif.
– June 22, 1982 / Norderstedt: 26-year-old Tevfik Gurel was beaten to death in a fight between right-wing extremists and Turks.
– June 1985 / Hamburg: A group of neo-Nazi skinheads beat 29-year-old Mehmet Kaymakçı to death in the middle of the street and crushed his head with a concrete block. A few of the attackers received prison sentences, and all of them benefited from a sentence reduction because they were minors.
– December 24, 1985 / Hamburg: 26-year-old Ramazan Avcı, who was seriously injured by being beaten with hard objects such as baseball bats and axes in the middle of the street by approximately 30 neo-Nazi skinheads, died in the hospital where he was treated for three days. Those who gathered to send the body to Turkey were also attacked by neo-Nazis, and a father and his son were seriously injured. Four of the attackers received prison sentences of 5-10 years and benefited from the youth discount.
– December 17, 1988 / Schwandoorf: Josef Saller, a member of the neo-Nazi organization 'Nationalistische Front', set fire to the house where Turks lived. 49-year-old worker Osman Can, his wife Fatma (43), son Mehmet (11) and 47-year-old Jürgen Hübener lost their lives in the fire. The killer pleaded guilty in court, openly declaring, "I hate foreigners."
– May 12, 1989 / Berlin: Ufuk Şahin, a father of one, was killed in a knife attack in Maerkischen Viertel, a city in Berlin where right-wing extremists were concentrated.
– December 28, 1990 / Hachenburg: 17-year-old Nihat Yusufoğlu is stabbed in the back by right-wing extremists. Yusufoğlu is the first Turkish citizen to be killed by right-wing extremists after German reunification.
– November 23, 1992 / Mölln: In the city of Mölln, near Hamburg, two neo-Nazis set fire to two houses inhabited by Turks in the middle of the night. The initial attack was survived with two wounded after the occupants of the house noticed the fire early. In the second house, three people (51-year-old Bahide Arslan and her grandchildren 14-year-old Ayşe Yılmaz and 10-year-old Yeliz Arslan) were killed and seven people were injured, some seriously. The attackers were apprehended shortly after the incident. Michael Peters, 25, was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Lars Christiansen, 19, was sentenced to 14 years. Peters was released after 14 years and Christiansen after 7.5 years.
Turks met Hip-Hop
While not being able to belong anywhere in German society led Turkish youth to a bad path, young people all over Germany started to meet Hip-Hop, the popular music culture of the period. Whether it's American soldiers on the Berlin Wall, American kids in schools, or discos playing rap music... They started to make rap music in a culture where they could talk about their problems and make their voices heard without getting involved in any violence. The first Turkish lyrics known from Turkish rappers, who wrote German and English lyrics for many years, were heard from Alper Ağa in the song "Bir foreignin hayat" by the King Size Terror group in 1986. In the same year, the Islamic Force group founded by Boe-B started to make rap music with Turkish lyrics. These songs, which mainly talked about the problems, racism and discrimination and were very popular, were spreading rapidly among the Turks.
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