It’s only two decades ago that leading politicians in this country insisted with full conviction that Germany was not an immigration country. That was nonsense back then, and it’s even more so today. Today, nearly one in three people here has a migration background.
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Despite all legitimate debates about integration issues and the limits of capacity: no politician, unless deluded by wishful thinking, would today still claim that Germany is not an immigration country. Having foreign roots has long since become normal here—almost as normal as being a native-born German.
Sinan Selen as designated head of German intelligence service is considered an excellent choice
From this perspective, it should also be normal that a particularly sensitive federal agency will now, for the first time, be headed by someone not born in Germany: the current deputy head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Sinan Selen, is set to become the new president of the domestic intelligence service. Selen was born in Istanbul in 1972, came to Germany a few years later with his Turkish parents, and grew up in Cologne. The lawyer has built an impressive career in the German security services. Experts regard him as an excellent choice.
More articles from Berliner Morgenpost in English:
- New survey: Emigration – One in Five Considers Leaving Germany
- Morgenpost exclusive: Digitalization of Tax Offices – One Berlin District Is Falling Behind
- Tennis during blackout: Kai Wegner – Chronicle of a Political Disaster
- ‘Exception rather than rule’: CDU and CSU Politicians Question Dual Citizenship
- Berlin 2026: Changes in construction, rents, schools, and sport
This is modern Germany: people with foreign roots become heads of government agencies, members of parliament, parliamentary presidents, ministers, mayors, corporate leaders, or works council chairs. It is the promise of upward mobility in an open society: if you work hard and play by the rules, anything is possible. What matters is not where someone comes from, but what they can do. That is the mindset that drives Germany forward – and also everyone who calls this country a second home.
This article was originally written and published on the 15th of September in German. It was translated in English with the use of Artificial Intelligence.
