Berlin is not the second largest Turkish city

Sir,
I felt obliged to respond to the email by the so-called Austrian Richard Melisch as it was so full of ignorance that people reading it could be easily mislead.

Berlin is not the second largest Turkish city and Vienna is certainly not the third. In truth, both cities are nowhere near the top 100.

For those interested in the population of Turkey, the second biggest Turkish city after Istanbul is Ankara, which is also the capital. The third is Izmir, known to you guys as Smyrna and then its Antalya which has 1.5 million inhabitants, then Diyarbakir (admistrative centre of Turkish Kurdistan) and then Adana. The list goes on…

Now for a reality check, there are 230,000 Turks in Berlin, not including Kurds from Turkey, who constitute a separate nation. In comparison, there are more Cypriots in London, more Moroccans in Paris, and much more Greeks in Melbourne.

The issue is not Turkish immigration to Europe, the issue is Austria having to come to terms with its own ethnic diversity. Has it not learnt any valuable lessons from the past?

İrfan Özyol, Kyrenia

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