List of German people of Turkish descent
The following is a list of notable Germans of Turkish descent, including both original ethnic Turkish immigrants and their descendants who are of full or partial Turkish descent.
Lists of Turks |
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By Traditional areas of settlement: |
By modern diasporas: |
Most notable German Turks have come from, or originate from, Turkey; however, there are also notable Germans of Turkish origin who have immigrated from, or descend from, earlier migrations during the Ottoman Empire (e.g. Fatima Kariman[1] and her children Frederick Augustus Rutowsky[2] and Maria Anna Katharina Rutowska, as well as Karl Boy-Ed who was of partial Turkish origin[3][4]) In addition, there are notable people in Germany who have come from, or descend from, ethnic Turkish communities groups from other post-Ottoman nation-states, especially from the Balkans (e.g. Ozan Güven is of Bulgarian-Turkish origin, and Cemile Giousouf is of Western Thracian-Turkish origin), the island of Cyprus (e.g. Rüya Taner is of Turkish Cypriot origin), the Levant (e.g. Bilal Aziz Özer is of Lebanese-Turkish origin), etc.
Musician
German-speaking rapper (male)
- Alpa Gun
- Apache 207
- Tunc
- Automatikk (consisting of Rokko81 and Atillah78)
- Azra
- Bektas
- BRKN (half Kurdish & Armenian)
- Capo (half Kurdish)
- C Arma (also singer)
- Caput
- Chefket
- Credibil (half Kurdish)
- Eko Fresh (half Kurdish)
- Ercandize
- G-Hot
- Gringo
- Haftbefehl
- Hasan.K
- Jazn
- Jiggo
- Jigzaw (with Azeri roots)
- Kex Kuhl
- Kool Savas
- Mero
- Mert
- Metrickz
- Microphone Mafia (group member Little Asia)
- MOK
- Playboy 51
- Remoe (also singer)
- Sero El Mero
- Summer Cem
- Tachiles
- Ufo361
- Volkan T.
German-speaking rapper (female)

- Hava (also singer)
- Ebow
- Lady Bitch Ray
Turkish-speaking rapper (female + male)
- Cartel (group)
- Ezhel
- Islamic Force (group)
- Da Crime Posse (group)
- Killa Hakan
German-speaking singer
- Muhabbet (has also released many Turkish songs)
- Apache 207 (also rap artist)
- Hava (rap & singing)
- Remoe
- C Arma
- Elif Demirezer
- Bahar Kızıl (has also released many English songs)
- Meltem Acikgöz - DSDS Finalist 2014
- Duygu Goenel - DSDS Finalist 2017
Turkish-speaking singer
- Tarkan Tevetoğlu
- Muhabbet (has also released many German songs)
- İsmail YK
- Aylin Aslım
- Esra Dalfidan
- Atiye Deniz
- Aynur Aydın
- Rafet El Roman
- Pamela Spence
English-speaking singer
- Bahar Kızıl (has also released many German songs)
- Aydo Abay
- Ateed
- Esra Dalfidan
- Martin Kesici
- Alev Lenz
- Özay Fecht
Rest
Athletes
Combat sport
- Firat Arslan
- Cengiz Koç
- Asiye Özlem Şahin
- Hülya Şahin
- Sinan Şamil Sam
- Oktay Urkal
- Ünsal Arik
- Mithat Bayrak
Basketball
- İsmet Akpınar
- Mithat Demirel
- Teoman Öztürk
Billiard
Ice Hockey
Hockey
Rugby
Skiing
Taekwondo
Volleyball
Football (male)
- Mesut Özil
- İlkay Gündoğan
- Emre Can
- Mehmet Scholl
- Hamit Altıntop
- Halil Altıntop
- Nuri Şahin
- Hakan Çalhanoğlu
- Ömer Toprak
- Serdar Tasci
- Kerem Demirbay
- Suat Serdar
- Yıldıray Baştürk
- Malik Fathi
- Mustafa Doğan
- Tolgay Arslan
- Yunus Mallı
- Gökhan Töre
- Kaan Ayhan
- Cenk Tosun
- Kenan Karaman
- Nazim Sangaré
- Güven Yalçın
- Berkay Özcan
- Hasan Ali Kaldırım
- Levin Öztunalı
- Salih Özcan
- Mehmet Ekici
- Tayfun Korkut
- Volkan Arslan
- Ogün Temizkanoğlu
- Olcay Şahan
- Serhat Akin
- Ümit Davala
- Tunay Torun
- Tayfur Havutçu
- Umit Karan
- İlhan Mansız
- Hakan Balta
- Ceyhun Gülselam
- Ali Güneş
- Serdar Güneş
- Alper Akçam
- Mehmet Akgün
- Şahin Aygüneş
- Serhat Akın
- Erhan Albayrak
- Selçuk Alibaz
- Ünal Alpuğan
- Salih Altın
- Tevfik Altındağ
- Hakan Aslantaş
- Serkan Atak
- İbrahim Aydemir
- Selim Aydemir
- Semih Aydilek
- Erhan Aydın
- Necat Aygün
- Onur Ayık
- Sezer Badur
- Alper Balaban
- Orkan Balkan
- Barbaros Barut
- Atif Bashir
- Engin Baytar
- Ferhat Bıkmaz
- Ali Bilgin
- Oguzhan Biyik
- Gökhan Bozkaya
- Mehmet Boztepe
- Erol Bulut
- Hamza Çakir
- Serkan Çalik
- Gökhan Çalışal
- Nizamettin Çalışkan
- Müslüm Can
- Ahmet Cebe
- Musa Celik
- Ferhat Cerci
- Bilal Çubukçu
- Ersin Demir
- Deniz Doğan
- Hüzeyfe Doğan
- Ahmet Dursun
- Alparslan Erdem
- Ömer Erdoğan
- Sertan Eser
- Ayhan Gezen
- Berkant Göktan
- Cenk Güvenç
- Sercan Güvenışık
- Özer Hurmacı
- Uğur İnceman
- Cenk İşler
- Fuat Kalkan
- Cihan Kaptan
- Aydın Karabulut
- Cem Karaca
- Ümit Karan
- Arif Karaoğlan
- Özgür Kart
- Burhanettin Kaymak
- Oğuzhan Kefkir
- Umut Kekıllı
- Erdal Keser
- Polat Keser
- Erdal Kılıçaslan
- Ferhat Kıskanç
- Süleyman Koç
- Celaleddin Koçak
- Guido Koçer
- Umut Koçin
- Bahattin Köse
- Tevfik Köse
- Oktay Kuday
- Burakcan Kunt
- Ahmet Kuru
- Taygun Kuru
- Ersen Martin
- Cemil Mengi
- Patrick Mölzl
- Barış Özbek
- Ufuk Özbek
- Furkan Özçal
- Abdulkadir Özgen
- Mustafa Özkan
- Cihan Özkara
- Yasin Öztekin
- Aykut Öztürk
- Emre Öztürk
- Erkan Öztürk
- Sezer Öztürk
- Tayfun Pektürk
- Ahmet Sağlam
- Mahir Sağlık
- Kenan Şahin
- Murat Salar
- Sercan Sararer
- Adem Sarı
- Halil Savran
- Tekin Sazlog
- Eren Şen
- Yusuf Soysal
- Abdullah Elyasa Süme
- Aytaç Sulu
- Turgay Tapu
- Selim Teber
- Murat Tosun
- Tufan Tosunoğlu
- İbrahim Türkkan
- Suat Türker
- Volkan Ünlü
- Taner Yalçın
- Volkan Yaman
- Zafer Yelen
- Deniz Yılmaz
- Mahmut Yilmaz
- Sefa Yılmaz
- Mehmet Yozgatlı
Football (female)
- Sara Doorsoun
- Hasret Kayıkçı
- Aycan Yanaç
- Melike Pekel
- Dilan Ağgül
- Selin Dişli
- Arzu Karabulut
- Ecem Cumert
- Fatma Kara
- Fatma Işık
- Ebru Uzungüney
- Feride Bakır
- Esra Sibel Tezkan
Football managers
Politicians
- Cem Özdemir
- Leyla Onur
- Özcan Mutlu
- Ekin Deligöz
- Aydan Özoğuz
- Cemile Giousouf
- Cansel Kızıltepe
- Mahmut Özdemir
- Filiz Polat
- Lale Akgün
- Ismail Ertug
- Hakkı Keskin
- Vural Öger
- Aygül Özkan
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() Cansel Kızıltepe | ![]() | ![]() |
TV & filming
Actors (male)
- Fahri Yardım
- Erdoğan Atalay
- Erol Sander
- Sinan Albayrak
- Erden Alkan
- Tayfun Bademsoy
- Baki Davrak
- Ercan Durmaz
- Erhan Emre
- Demir Gökgöl
- Arman İnci
- Aykut Kayacık
- Mehmet Kurtuluş
- Tekin Kurtuluş
- Adnan Maral
- Denis Moschitto
- Özgür Özata
- Ercan Özçelik
- Oktay Özdemir
- Okan Patirer
- Haluk Piyes
- Tim Seyfi
- Hilmi Sözer
- Birol Ünel
- Haydar Zorlu
- Numan Acar
Actresses
- Meryem Uzerli
- Sibel Kekilli
- Almila Bağrıaçık
- Gizem Emre
- Sıla Şahin
- Aslı Bayram
- Jale Arıkan
- Renan Demirkan
- Şebnem Dönmez
- Selma Ergeç
- Fahriye Evcen
- Jasmin Gerat
- Lale Karci
- Nursel Köse
- Emine Sevgi Özdamar
- Meral Perin
- Nezâ Selbuz
- Türkiz Talay
- İdil Üner
- Belhe Zaimoğlu
- Özay Fecht
Film directors, producers & screenwriters
- Fatih Akın
- Sinan Akkuş
- Özgür Yıldırım
- Şermin Langhoff
- Bülent Akinci
- Tevfik Başer
- Neco Celik
- Nesrin Şamdereli
- Yasemin Şamdereli
- Mennan Yapo
- Numan Acar
- Bora Dağtekin
- Erol Yesilkaya
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Comedians
- Kaya Yanar
- Bülent Ceylan
- Serdar Somuncu
- Özcan Coşar
- Django Asül
- İdil Baydar
- Osan Yaran
TV personalities & presenters
- Pinar Atalay
- Nazan Eckes
- Gülcan Kamps
- Menderes Bağcı
![]() | ![]() | ![]() Serdar Somuncu | ![]() Özcan Coşar |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() Menderes Bağcı |
Social media
German-speaking Youtuber
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- Emrah - over 2.3 million subscribers
- Sallys Welt - over 1.5 million subscribers
- Mert - YouTuber for a long time, now he only does rap music, over 1.2 million subscribers
- İdil Baydar - stand-up-comedian, but she also does regular comedy videos on YouTube
- Oğuz Yılmaz - part of the former Comedy-trio Y-Titty (over 3,1 million subscribers on YouTube, a long time the German YouTube channel with the most subscribers, dissolution in 2015)
- Cengiz Doğrul - part of Comedy-trio ApeCrime (over 2.4 million subscribers on YouTube)
Journalism
- Kübra Gümüşay - journalist, blogger & web activist of Turkish descent
Others
- Uğur Şahin - immunologist, oncologist and businessperson
- Özlem Türeci - physician, immunologist and businessperson
- Feridun Zaimoğlu - writer
- Kemal Kurt - writer
- Akif Pirinçci - writer
- Akdemir Udenta - writer
- Sabri Çakir - poet
- Deniz Yücel - journalist
- Hakan Albayrak - journalist
- Sertan Baykara - journalist
- Cevat Yerli - video game designer
- Necla Kelek - social scientist
- Sabriye Tenberken - Social worker
- Murad Sezer - photographer
- Asuman Krause - model
- Jennifer Şebnem Schaefer - model
- Aslı Bayram - model (Miss Germany 2005)
- Leyla Tuğutlu - model (Miss Turkey 2008)
- Necmi Sönmez - art critic
- Bahtiyar Duysak - businessperson
- Kemal Derviş - economist
- Kemal Şahin - entrepreneur
- Murat Kurnaz - Guantanamo detainee
- Metin Kaplan - religious leader
- 36 Boys - gang
See also
References
- Wilson, Peter (2002), German Armies: War and German Society, 1648-1806, Routledge, p. 86, ISBN 978-1135370534
- Killy, Walther; Vierhaus, Rudolf (2011), "Rutowsky", Dictionary of German Biography, 8, Walter de Gruyter, p. 509, ISBN 3110966301,
As the illegitimate son of King Augustus II of Poland and Elector of Saxony (Frederick Augustus I) and a Turkish woman who later became Frau von Spiegel R. was educated at Parisian and Sardinian courts.
- Sulick, Michael J. (2014), Spying in America: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War, Georgetown University Press, ISBN 9781626160668,
Karl Boy-Ed was half German and half Turkish and was an experienced naval attaché, if not a professional intelligence officer.
- Goebel, Ulrike (2000), German Propaganda in the United States, 1914-1917 -- a Failure?, University of Wisconsin-Madison, p. 16,
Karl Boy-Ed, son of a Turkish father and a German mother, had received a special executive training and had served as naval attaché in several parts of the world.