Majority of Turks feel at home in Germany

According to a joint study conducted by Turkish and German researchers, 90 percent of Turks living in Germany feel at home. The research, conducted by Hacettepe University Migration and Politics Research Centre (HUGO) and Berlin-based Data 4U, with 2,244 people questioned, has revealed the world views, political tendencies and perceived identities of Turks living in Germany. When asked whether they felt integrated into German society, 90 percent replied that they felt at home, while 6 percent replied negatively. One of the most interesting questions in the study was, "How do you identify yourself?" The experts conducting the research stated that, although Turks who take German citizenship maintained that they felt at home, they insistently hesitated to identify themselves as "German." According to the study, 37.72 percent of German citizens with Turkish origins identify themselves as "Turkish-Muslim," while 13.57 percent self-identify as "Turkish," 13.97 percent as "Turkish-Muslim-German" and 8.08 percent as "Turkish-German." The research shows that there is a low percentage of people who identify themselves as Kurdish, Alevi or German. According to the research, 0.1 percent self-identify as "Alevi-Turkish-German," 0.6 percent as "Kurdish-German," 0.6 percent as "Kurdish-Muslim-German," 0.8 percent as "Alevi-Turkish-German," 0.9 percent as "Alevi-Kurdish," 1.2 percent as "Alevi" and 2.1 percent as "Alevi-Turkish." The director of HUGO, Murat Erdogan, stated that while conducting the research, the center was wondering how many people would identify themselves as Kurdish or Alevi. "However, we saw that the majority of those people asked identify themselves as ‘Turkish-Muslim-German.' There is a significant Kurdish and Alevi element in Germany. But they still don't identify themselves as Kurdish or Alevi," said Erdogan. When asked whether they would vote when Turkey holds its next elections, those who hold Turkish citizenship or dual citizenship replied "yes." Overall, 84 percent of people who participated in this study answered "yes" to this question.