German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on Germans to choose solidarity over exclusion, rejecting "fantasies of ethnic isolation".

Axar.az reports, citing Die Zeit, that Steinmeier made the remarks at an event in Berlin.

"Anyone seeking to divide and rank German identity into categories is placing themselves outside our democratic order,” Steinmeier said.

“We need immigration as a country. We need it if we want to function,” Steinmeier said, urging Germans to reject “fantasies of ethnic isolation.”

He stressed that Germany has no “first- or second-class citizens” and said politicians must address concerns over migration and integration.

“Immigration brings strength. And immigration also takes strength,” Steinmeier said, acknowledging that some long-established residents feel overwhelmed by migration and increasingly alienated in their own country.

“If people have lost faith in successful coexistence, then politics is needed,” he said, adding that politicians must address obvious problems quickly and decisively.

“Germany is our shared home,” Steinmeier said.