Berlin – Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pushed Tuesday for the support of Germany’s Turkish community in Sunday’s vote by highlighting his main challenger’s opposition to Turkey’s membership in the European Union.
About 500,000 of the 2.6 million Turks here are German citizens. They traditionally have supported Schroeder’s Social Democrats, although recently, they have been angered by his social-welfare and unemployment reforms that have cut benefits.
Still, many fear the alternative – Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats – could be worse.
Merkel’s party currently has a commanding lead in the polls ahead of the election, although Schroeder has made up ground recently.
“Germany has to change, and everybody knows that, but what is the right way?” asked Ilhami Terzi, 35, a German-born Turk, who said he would vote for Schroeder’s junior coalition partners, the Greens.
The few studies that have been conducted on how Germany’s Turks, the nation’s largest Muslim group, vote show the majority support either the Social Democrats or the Greens.
A poll published Tuesday indicated a tight finish in the election, with a slight dip in support for Schroeder’s party and a small gain for Merkel’s.
The survey put support for the Social Democrats at 33.5 percent, while Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party were at 42 percent.
