Political socialization process of Turks living in Germany:the case of North Rhine-Westphalia

This study analyzes the effect of socializing instruments on immigrants and the reflexes of immigrant communities against the main agents of political socialization through the process of political socialization of Turks living in Germany, who has gone as labor migration and left behind four generations since the 1960s. Instruments of political socialization has left such an impact in paralel with the new social memory accumulated by the Turks living in Germany during the 58 years they left behind. Aformentioned process happens to be different in terms of interplay with the countries they emigrated compared to their homeland. The Turks living in Germany, which is expressed as "Almanci" in Turkish society, have acquired different experiences with the German state institutions and homeland institutions in their immigration history. During this period, they have grown to four generations and reached a population of approximately 4 million people. So, they have become a community of interest to politics, economy, culture and academia. Having tried to preserving cultural identity, their own language and religious rituals during their time in Germany, Turkish society have been experiencing a process of political socialization among education, business and professional life, neighborly relations and dominant culture. Beginning in the 1960s, they experienced breaking points due to the legal and de facto practices of Germany in 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s, which affected almost each one of four generations .With the new generation overlapping with time of those breaking points, Turkish society witnessed societal changes in education, business life, culture, art and other social fields. The Turkish society in Germany continues its political socialization processes with the stages mentioned above through instruments of political socilization such as family, school, media, business life and social environs. Those processes take place prematurely and in a more intense interplay than the normal ones.