The symbol of Türkiye-Germany relations: TURKISH DONER

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier´s visit to Turkey with his doner kebab chef and his statement that döner had become Germany´s ´national dish´ was one of the agenda items last week. Döner has been discussed in Europe for a long time. There are those who say "it changed the face of a nation" and others who see it as a symbol of integration... We talked with historians, food researchers and food writers about the adventure of doner in Germany and the political and social messages Steinmeier gave with his doner show. We followed the traces of the culture created by this street flavor with Turks living in Germany.

One of the most important agenda items last week was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan´s ´doner diplomacy´, which ended with the joke "I guess the doner kebab was finished in Istanbul" during his meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. How was the issue brought to the agenda? Let´s rewind the movie and explain. Steinmeier paid a three-day visit to Turkey last week on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Steinmeier´s first stop on Monday, April 22 was Istanbul. He first visited Sirkeci Train Station, where labor migration to Germany began 63 years ago. Then visit the Railway Museum.

He went to his next stop, the summer residence of the German Embassy in Tarabya, via Eminönü with the ferry allocated to him.

Among the guests at the invitation held at the residence were Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Governor of Istanbul Davut Gül and Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Ekrem İmamoğlu. Later, Arif Keleş, a third-generation doner master who came with the President of Germany, took over the counter and cut the 60-kilogram special doner prepared in Berlin and offered it to the guests. In his speech, Steinmeier emphasized that döner kebab ´has become the national dish of Germany´: "Döner kebab, which was developed by Turkish guest workers in Berlin in its current form, has now become the national dish of Germany. "No fast food dish is sold more, eaten more, or even exported more than döner kebab in Germany."