fact finder
After the presidential election in Turkey, the result of the Turkish voters in Germany caused criticism. But it is worth taking a look at the overall situation.
The election result of the Turks eligible to vote in Germany quickly came into focus after the presidential run-off in Turkey – because the previous incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan got significantly more votes in Germany with 67 percent than his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Pictures and videos of Erdogan supporters celebrating in major German cities made the rounds. Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir, among others, criticized the voting behavior of the Turks in Germany.
About half were not eligible to vote
To classify the result, it is helpful to take a closer look at the numbers. Of the according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees a total of around 2.9 million people with a Turkish migration background in Germany, only 1.5 million were even entitled to vote. Because many of them have German citizenship, but not Turkish one – and therefore they are not entitled to vote.
According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, almost half of the 1.5 million people eligible to vote took part in the runoff – we are talking about 732,000. Of these, 67 percent voted for Erdogan – about 500,000.
voter turnout to be evaluated differently abroad
There are various reasons why voter turnout in Germany was lower than in Turkey, says Betül Havva Yilmaz-Bergk, research associate at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. “Many people have told me that they don’t vote because they don’t live in Turkey. They therefore find it inappropriate to influence the election result without knowing exactly what the situation is on the ground.” Others, on the other hand, fear repression from the Turkish state because they are active in the opposition.
Due to various hurdles, voter turnout abroad is generally to be assessed differently than that at home. It is often not possible to vote by post and people have to go to the consulate in their country of origin, for example, to vote. For this reason alone, voter turnout is often lower: In the 2021 federal election, of the approximately 3.4 million Germans abroad, only 126,500 applied for an entry in the electoral register. How many of them actually voted is not known. It was also not surveyed how the Germans living abroad voted.
Majority for Kilicdaroglu in North America
In a Western European comparison, the Turks in Germany voted very similarly to those in some neighboring countries: Erdogan received 66.57 percent of the votes in France, 73.88 percent in Austria and 70.45 percent in the Netherlands. In the Scandinavian countries of Denmark (60.47 percent) and Norway (54.23 percent), Erdogan’s result was somewhat weaker. In Switzerland, Poland and Finland, Kilicdaroglu won the majority – as in many other countries in southern and eastern Europe.
In Great Britain, Canada and the USA, too, Kilicdaroglu from the social democratic party CHP received significantly more votes than Erdogan from the conservative party AKP. According to Yunus Ulusoy from the Center for Turkish Studies and Integration Research, the different voting results can be explained by the social classes that emigrated to the respective countries. “In countries like Canada or the USA, where mainly people with high qualifications immigrate, Kilicdaroglu’s approval ratings are higher.”
Because unlike in Germany, the Social Democrats in Turkey are not considered a traditional party of workers, according to Ulusoy. In Turkey, they mostly voted conservatively, while the social democrats were more popular with the urban elite and secular milieus. “However, these milieus are underrepresented among people of Turkish origin in Germany,” says Ulusoy. Because more people would live in Germany who came from rural Anatolia, for example. This is then reflected in the election result: Erdogan was also well ahead of Kilicdaroglu in Anatolia.
In recent years, however, more and more members of the opposition have come to Germany, says Yilmaz-Bergk – at least since the repression of the Turkish government after the attempted coup against Erdogan in 2016. It is often difficult for them to understand that there are people in Germany who support Erdogan.
No positive interest in elections?
According to Ulusoy, the conditions make it easy for Erdogan and his party to reach their supporters in Germany. In addition, these already mostly consumed state-related media, with the help of which Erdogan is consolidating his popularity. And the way the German population views the elections in Turkey also influences voting decisions, says Ulusoy. “Of course, people notice how the German public thinks about them, about their voting behavior and about their president. And then there is a kind of defiant reaction.”
Because many would not perceive the excessive attention to the Turkish elections and Erdogan as a positive interest. “In their eyes, discriminatory prejudices against Turkish Muslims, for example, are simply projected onto Erdogan’s person and thus disguised as legitimate criticism. If someone takes aim at Erdogan, he no longer has to explain that he might have something against the Turks.”
“Have to approach people”
Yilmaz-Bergk also considers it important with a view to German politics and society to investigate the reasons for the voting decision in favor of Erdogan. “Religion and Turkish identity were important factors that Erdogan relied on. The question is why that apparently played such an important role for many in Germany.” Erdogan managed to make many Turks in Germany feel supported by him.
Instead of getting worked up about the Turkish election result in Germany, Ulusoy calls for people to be approached. “If we want to win people over, we have to address them emotionally in a positive way. Condemnation doesn’t make people open up, they rather isolate themselves.”
The history of migration is full of condemnations, says Ulusoy. “Almost every person with an immigrant background, even the third or fourth generation, has such experiences. Such injuries often run deep. And if we then condemn them and point the finger at them, then we are really pushing them in this direction.”