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  • Page 1 — now it’s your turn
  • Page 2 — you feel right, because you are now in power

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    On June 24th, Turkey will elect a President and a parliament. Turkish voters in Germany could play an important role, which can also be voted on until today, 19 June. The German-Turkish psychologist Ahmet Toprak, professor at Technical University of Dortmund, goes into this guest contribution to question of why so many Turks in Germany vote for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

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    In April 2017, when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voted on his new constitution for Turkey, he received 63 percent of votes of Turks in Germany. This is a remarkable electoral behaviour: in Turkey, only 51.4 percent chose Erdoğan.

    I also expect a similar result in Turkish presidential election, which is still running in Germany until today’s Tuesday. But why? Why choose Türkeistämmigen for a ruler who restricts democracy, human and civil rights, and rights of assembly and minorities? Especially as this group benefits from a functioning democracy.

    There are about three million Turks migrants living in Germany, of whom almost 1.4 million are eligible for election. In last elections, however, only barely half of m actually voted. The majority of Türkeistämmigen migrants emigrated to Germany as a result of immigrant workers ‘ recruitment of Sixties and seventies. Because integration of first generation of workers was neir desired nor intended, this generation still speaks rudimentary German. Most of guest workers were recruited from conservative cities of central Anatolia and Black Sea coast – current strongholds of ACP government. These so-called disadvantaged and conservative-religious strata have not managed to advance desired level of education in Germany for generations.

    The Heart in Turkey

    The group is usually arrested in its own milieus. Turkey remains its home country, even though many of m are born in Germany. That is, this group is traditionally nationalized and chooses conservatively. Floral Word: The body is in Germany, but heart and soul are in Turkey. But it also does not mean that rise of education and successful integration are a guarantee of a different electoral behaviour. For educational climbers of conservative milieu also feel close to ideological Erdoğan and his politics, are eloquent, reflect, choose from conviction of Erdoğan and promote him in social networks and in neighbourhood.

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    Since social modernisation efforts that began in 1923 with establishment of Republic, especially by introduction of secularism, interests of religious-religious strata were not represented in public. On contrary, religion should remain private and state should not interfere. The model of secularism was not applied as consistently in Turkey as in France. But religious strata have been defamed, injured and excluded for decades. Until Erdoğan came to power in year 2002.