Erdogan's election victory: Difficult integration of German-Turks

Not only are the chances of a nationalist autocrat being elected particularly high among Turks in Germany; it also seems that Erdogan's supporters want to rub their victory over pluralism, liberalism and secular cosmopolitanism right under the nose of "their" Germans. This is evidenced by the motorcades and celebrations, which cannot be explained by the usual political folklore alone.

Most of the participants were born here, went to school here, enjoy freedom and prosperity, but consider the "West" to be the realm of evil. It is a truism that is now being stated from right to left: Something is going wrong with integration in Germany. But what?

Turkish immigration has not led to this result everywhere in the world. In Germany itself, there are big differences in how it should be kept in mind that Erdogan voters do not represent the majority of the Turkish community in this country. Nationalists among them, however, are particularly easy to mobilize. This can be explained by the extent of AKP propaganda, but it is also due to the origin of the immigrants from Turkey. There, as here, the following applies: Anatolia is not Istanbul.

Is it really because of the German offer?

Doubts are therefore justified as to whether the German phenomenon is due to the German "offer", i.e. whether enthusiasm for Erdogan is particularly high in Germany only because immigrants are treated less friendly here than elsewhere. Nevertheless, opinions on integration deficits are diametrically opposed.

Once again, politicians who consider themselves experts on the immigration society do not see the responsibility for the voting behavior of the German-Turks primarily with the Turks themselves, but with the Germans. The basic idea of this direction is that the decisive integration effort must come from the host society, not from the immigrants. At the other end of the spectrum are the radicals, who would like to get rid of any problem immigrant, regardless of generation.

But anti-nationalists who wonder about immigrant nationalists are just as curious and naïve as nationalists who want to get rid of nationalists. For decades now, some have been living in the erroneous idea that Germany will develop into a community beyond people and nations through immigration. The others still believe, all brothers and sisters in the spirit of Erdogan, that Germany can be redeveloped into a homogeneous nation. The future will probably lie somewhere in between.

Repressive arts of German politics

Neither can a society tolerate an excess of heterogeneity, nor can homogeneity be prescribed. However, German politicians are not even aware of where Germany stands. During the Corona crisis, she was astonished to discover that large parts of the immigrants had never arrived in the German public. The fact that one in four children at the end of primary school cannot really read and write may also have something to do with this – but is not even addressed in migration policy. The fact that the mistakes of the past are currently being repeated en masse by burdening municipalities with immigration that is not justifiable in terms of integration policy is also reluctant to take note of in Berlin.

None of this speaks in favour of political realism. Is it really because of local society if immigrants can't even find out about the bare necessities in Germany? Is it really due to the lack of permeability of the German school system that children do not master the German language at the end of primary school? Are racism and xenophobia really so widespread that only Erdogan can help? Or are such questions alone too much?

Immigration of Turkish origin shows that integration in its pure ideal form has become an illusion. Moreover, no society is fully "integrated". But it would mean fighting one illusion with another if incentives to adapt to the new homeland were kept as low as possible.

When asked whether naturalization should also be facilitated for people who, from whatever country, want to import Erdogan's paschal world, there is no clear answer to those who accuse all skeptics of not knowing what it means to shape an immigration society. However, in order to be able to shape anything at all, naturalization must be a sign of mutual, not one-sided acceptance. In this respect, the Turkish motorcades on German streets were a demonstration of power directed against a submissive immigration policy. She should say: You can want as little as you want, we don't want at all.