[Scenes from a Ramadan in Multiculti Kreuzberg]
How multicultural can a Kreuzberger be during Ramadan?

However, although the streets of Berlin reflect an ultimately “multiculti” scene, could we say that Berlin or Germany is a place where multicultural policies are actually endorsed?

A question such as this one comes to the forefront when the aroma of Ramadan pide (pita bread specially baked throughout Ramadan all over Turkey for iftar, the fast-breaking meal) wafts through the streets of Kreuzberg around iftar time and makes you wonder how Ramadan is felt and experienced by the Turkish Muslim community here in Berlin and whether a Ramadan spent in diaspora is equally as special as the one spent at home in Turkey.

Now, looking at the poster, which laments the lack of encounters between different communities apart from the meetings that happen so very often in the fridge, one still thinks that that there is a system that either financially or ideologically (merely by allowing them exist and shape people's opinions, so to speak) supports these NGOs.

However, one needs to clarify what is meant by the world “multiculturalist” and what that implies. Judging by the existence of pide and those who line up for it at iftar time in front of Turkish bakeries, a certain multiculturalism seems to suggest its presence in Kreuzberg, but the question is whether this “multicultiness” exists in the political arena as well.

Understanding multicultural policies

Those who shape and re-create the discourse of multiculturalism, such as Will Kymlicka, Charles Taylor and Anthony Appiah, have mostly emphasized the most general aspects of “multicultural policies” as group-specific rights for minorities. These minorities are endowed with specific rights in a nation-state where they live assuming that they already hold the citizenship of that state

Then these specific rights that minorities claim can be subsumed under three headings which Kymlicka, in the book “Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights,” defines as follows: self-government rights (the delegation of powers to national minorities, often through some form of federalism); poly-ethnic rights (financial support and legal protection for certain practices associated with particular ethnic or religious groups); and special representation rights (guaranteed seats for ethnic or national groups within the central institutions of the larger state). Here, what concerns us about Ramadan practices and what it requires, which is analyzable under the second tenet in Kymlicka's classification, are poly-ethnic rights.

 Firstly, the questions whether people belonging to the minority who celebrate Ramadan can freely enjoy this practice, for example. The answer to that is, of course, “yes” since it is considered an individual freedom. Secondly, is the government financially and legally supporting Ramadan practices associated with Turks and Kurds in general since they are the biggest minority group here coming from a Muslim background? I do not know the answer to this question but am willing to draw attention to it since, if likewise the majority is enjoying such rights as receiving financial and legal support for their religious and cultural practices, claims of being institutionally multicultural come down to giving this support to minorities as well.

Thirdly, do the religious and cultural holidays of the minority group form part of the religious and cultural holidays (such as Christmas) of the state, where people are exempt from going to work? I do not know the answer to this question either, although I know that the first day of Ramadan bayramı is a holiday for schoolchildren who have a Muslim background; however, that might then result in a suspicion of religious discrimination on the part of the educating institution since there is a thin line between giving group-specific rights and discrimination in our politically correct post-modern world. If there is no official holiday on the days of Ramadan bayramı, people can take days off from work if they wish, but then it can only be counted as time taken from their annual vacation  

Looking at this picture that Kymlicka drew as a matter of observing the political demands of minorities living in multinational societies, a light and short analysis is looking at how multicultural we are in this corner of the world where it makes the most sense for a Turk -- with respect to the size of the community -- to talk about his needs and demands for identification in a society where he is a citizen of.  In short, the question is “Hey, are we really as multiculti as we think here in Berlin?” And if I attempt to pose this question with academic pretensions or scientific purposes, I would simply be unable to respond since the answer would require me to do intensive study of German institutions, an investigation into the most recent updates and regional laws and knowledge on how these are applied. No, I cannot and would not want to do that; mine is just a Socratic curiosity that I have as a Turkish expat living in Berlin and observing a Ramadan away from home perfectly adapted to the circumstances here yet with more or less the same traditional elements. There are pide lines here, in front of the Melek and Izmir bakeries and all Turkish bakeries that normally do not experience lines in a city like this. There are really free iftar meals given to people in the mosque in Kreuzberg, where the Muslim community also goes for terawih or to meet for the Bayram prayer. There is no Ramadan drummer, which is a pity since that means no davul and zurna during the Bayram holiday going door to door performing for tips.

Yet, with a mosque, with bakeries that sell pide and with free iftar meals, are Turks happy? Do they feel comfortable during Ramadan celebrating it away from their home country?  

    The people in the pide line had differing opinions about how Ramadan is spent in Berlin, especially in Kreuzberg, where every second person is a Turk and even the Mexican restaurants and locksmith shops are owned by Turks. Ahmet Kaya, who immigrated to Germany in 1991 and who is a construction worker in Berlin, has tremendous nostalgia for Ramadan back in his hometown of Samsun. He says Ramadan in Turkey is totally different and can't be compared to its counterpart here in regards to festivities and daily facilities. Yaşar Kaya, Ahmet's cousin, is also nostalgic about Ramadan in Samsun, or basically in Turkey; however, he is fond of the fact that one can buy pide, go to pray or have an iftar meal here as well as if it was not a city in the middle of Europe. Yaşar Kaya immigrated to Germany in 1993. He is between jobs at the moment because of the economic recession. Ayşegül Yıldırım goes to primary school; she was born here. For her Ramadan is the month when bakeries sell this different bread, her parents fast and her mom cooks more varied and delicious meals than the rest of the year. She tries to ride home quickly on her bike before the pide in her sack cools down and iftar begins with the ezan broadcast on TV at home. She is fond of her responsibility.

No matter what the post-immigrant Turkish community in Kreuzberg is enjoying Ramadan to the fullest, and you can see this from the rather deserted streets during iftar, with people leisurely munching on sunflower seeds in the after hours between iftar and imsak, taking advantage of the still warm weather of early autumn in Berlin.