The Turkish Diaspora in Europe
Integration, Migration, and Politics Getty/Andreas Gebert
Members of the Turkish community stand in front of the Oberlandesgericht courthouse with a large Turkish flag, 2018, in Munich.
Sam Hananel
Introduction and summary
More than 5 million people of Turkish descent live in Europe outside Turkey itself, a human connection that has bound Turkey and the wider European community together since large-scale migration began in the 1960s.
1 The questions of immigration, citizenship, integration, assimilation, and social exchange sparked by this migration and the establishment of permanent Turkish diaspora communities in Europe have long been politically sensitive. Conservative and far-right parties in Europe have seized upon issues of migration and cultural diversity, often engaging in fearmongering about immigrant communities and playing upon some Europeans’ anxiety about rapid demographic change. Relations between the European Union as well as