Integration of the immigrant youth in Germany

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1164368 (Table of Contents)

This M.A. thesis attempts to examine the linkage between the German citizenship perceptions of the German-Turks and their political strategies. The second aim of this thesis is to elaborate how the German-Turks’ participation strategies are reflected in their rhetoric while discussing the issues pertaining Turkish-European Union relations. The main argument presented in the thesis is that, the way German- Turks’ perceive their German citizenship as well as their own citizenship imply the way German-Turks raise and resolve their problems. In that sense, the political strategies of the German-Turks are important for shaping their discursive reactions against the political developments. For this thesis, a fieldwork was conducted in the city of Berlin. The fieldwork involves interviews with second and third generation German-Turks who were born in Germany or have moved there before the age of six. During the semi-structured indepth interviews, the main focus was on the everyday experiences of the participants, their preferences of German citizenship and their perceptions about Turkey, Germany and the EU. One of the main findings of the thesis is that, the young generation German-Turks regardless of their social and economic integration, are not politically integrated to Germany. They employ ethno-cultural political strategy that is marginal to the German political context and evaluate the political issues from the Turkish point of view, rather than German.