Religious discrimination perceived by Muslims living in Germany

Discrimination means treating people or groups differently on the basis of certain characteristics and is usually unfavourable. People who are discriminated against are negatively affected both psychologically and sociologically. Therefore, the question of what discrimination is, why it occurs and what it leads to has become a subject of research in many fields. In both modern psychology and religious psychology, the issue of discrimination has been analysed in detail in terms of its effects on the human psyche and many theories have been put forward on this subject. The presence of Turks in Germany is generally dated back to the 1960s. Of course, the presence of Turks can be mentioned before this date, but since then, due to the great demand for labour in Germany, a large number of guest workers have migrated from Turkey to Germany in a short time. The guest workers, who initially came to Germany to work for short periods of time, found the opportunity to settle down in time and formed the main part of the Muslim presence in Germany. Germany is a country that has accepted immigrants from many different regions. According to micro-census data, 24.9 million of the total population of 83.9 million in Germany in 2023 were of immigrant origin (immigrants and their descendants). This corresponds to 29.7 per cent of the total population. Of the 24.9 million people with a migrant background, 12.4 million are German citizens and 12.5 million are foreigners. The exact number of Muslims living in Germany cannot be determined, but according to the German Islamic Conference (http://www.deutsche-islam-konferenz.de) it is estimated to be between 4.4 and 4.7 million. Most of them come from Turkiye. They came to Germany as guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s and are currently the third or fourth generation living in Germany. This study focuses on different dimensions of religious discrimination and aims to determine the extent to which Turkish Muslims in Germany perceive religious discrimination. Face-to-face and online interviews were conducted with 20 Turkish Muslims and 5 German citizens living in the cities of Backnang, Stuttgart and Duisburg in Germany to determine the discrimination perceived by Turkish Muslims in the workplace, social sphere and school. The age range of the interviewees is between 18 and 69. Since the interviewees were not prioritised, their education levels, occupational groups, gender and perceptions of religiosity constitute a heterogeneous pattern. The data obtained from the interviews were transferred to Word media and organised and processed using Nvivo14 . This study was analysed on the basis of social identity theory. This theory plays an important role in understanding the psychology of an individual's religious group affiliation. Thus, the religious discrimination perceived by Turkish Muslims living in Germany, the extent to which this discrimination affects their living standards, the perspective of Turkish Muslims towards Germans and the perspective of Germans towards Turkish Muslims were analysed. As a result of the research, insights on the discrimination perceived by Turkish Muslims living in Germany based on their religious identity in the fields of education, social life and business life were obtained and similar studies were also mentioned.