BERLIN — According to newly published British documents former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said in 1982 that he wanted to cut in half the number of Turks living in Germany.
In the recently released classified protocol of a telephone conversation with the British prime minister of the time, Margaret Thatcher, Kohl is quoted as saying he wants to give Turkey economic incentives to take back half of all Turkish immigrants because "the Turks came from a very distinctive culture and did not integrate well."
Kohl's office couldn't immediately be reached late Thursday.
The plan was never implemented and the number of Turks in Germany has roughly doubled since 1982 to over 3 million.
One of Kohl's sons is married to a Turkish woman.
