Turks in Germany Get a Beauty Pageant of their Own

courtesy, the Miss Turkuaz Pageant

Miss Turkuaz

And now for news of bikini-wearing Turkish ladies and European integration.

The German newspaper Deutsch Tuerkische Nachrichten reports that 22-year-old Berna Keklikler of Gelsenkirchen has been named Miss Turkuaz Germany 2011, or the year’s prettiest Turkish-German woman. Kekliker, who works as a bookkeeper and is preparing to enter university, topped the list of some 250 contestants, winnowed to 22 for the final showdown in Cologne on May 18.

The ladies – unmarried, 18-26, and of Turkish heritage – appear to have engaged in usual beauty pageant fare: swimsuit competitions; ball gown strutting; waving theatrically with their arms. Of special concern for the organizers, a marketing firm called Ekip Group, however, was the winner’s ability to portray “the beautiful face[s] of successful integration.”

“Integration is not just subway fights, the Islamic conference, the debate around head covering, and education about Islam," the organizers of the event, Ekip LLC, write in a press release. Apparently, it is also a nice body and the desire to compete for the title Miss Germany, the prize of the competition along with a modeling contract and an iPad.

“Fifty years after the labor recruitment agreement between Turkey and Germany, integration is more important than ever. And prettier than ever,” the same high-minded press release goes on to say. “The return of the very impressive MISS TURKUAZ, Germany’s only beauty contest honoring the prettiest German of Turkish origins, illustrates this as well this year.”

Berna Keklikler enters the pool of candidates for Miss Germany 2012, whose selection will take place in several stages over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, the 50th anniversary of the labor agreement that started the Turkish migration to Germany is likely to yield more celebrations in the coming months, as well, one suspects, as more talk of “subway fights, the debate around head covering, and education about Islam.”