German President Christian Wulff was expected Monday to begin a five-day visit to Turkey, the first to the country by a German head of state in a decade, DPA reported.
Wulff, whose role is largely ceremonial, is expected to address parliament in Ankara and attend the groundbreaking of a Turkish-German university in Istanbul.
He is also expected to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Religious Affairs Director Ali Bardakoglu.
Wulff is also expected to address a Turkish-German business forum in Kayseri, a commercial hub in central Turkey, and attend a religious service in the ancient Church of St Paul in the historical Mediterranean city of Tarsus.
His visit comes amid growing debate in Germany over the integration of the country's estimated 4 million Muslims, most of whom are of Turkish origin.
Chancellor Angela Merkel recently proclaimed that "multiculturalism has utterly failed" in Germany, and urged immigrants to work harder to learn German and integrate.
She was speaking a week after a visit to Berlin by Erdogan, who told a German newspaper in an interview that Turks living in Germany should learn to speak German fluently.