Turkish President Abdullah Gul called on Turkish migrants to Germany to learn German in an effort to integrate better, in media comments released Wednesday ahead of a state visit to Germany, dpa reported.
"Today it should be the case that a German citizen of Turkish origin should speak accent-free German," Gul said in a joint interview with German weekly Die Zeit and Turkey's Zaman newspaper.
The best place for this to happen was in kindergarten, he said, adding: "If Turks in Germany do not send their children to kindergarten, we must find out why."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly caused outrage in Germany by telling compatriots to preserve their Turkish identity, and teach their children Turkish before German.
Gul also said the Turkish contribution to Germany's economic development - in the form of 'guest' workers invited to Germany from the 1960s - was insufficiently recognized.
The Turkish president arrives in Germany on Monday for a three-day visit, which includes meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel and his counterpart, Christian Wulff.