The representation of Turkish immigrants in the German printed media and its linkage to the public opinion about Turkey's EU accession

This study aims to reveal that the German perception towards Turkey?s European Union (EU) membership is in a great sense influenced by the relative share of the representation of the Turkish population in the German printed media.In the popular debates about migration and integration of immigrants in Germany, the Turks are often at the centre as the largest minority group both in Europe and in Germany. To make this point comprehensible, firstly an overview of Turkish immigrants? situation in Germany has been given. Then, the significance of the media has been explained to realize how effective they are for the public opinion. As the next step in the study, the representation of Turkish immigrants in the printed media through secondary literature has been revealed. Hereafter, it has been focused on some title themes of the weekly magazine Der Spiegel to illustrate how the `otherness? of Turkish immigrants is constructed, where it has been found out that they stand out with failed integration and that generalization form individual stories to the whole Turkish immigrants is constructed.To define the significance of the public opinion of both EU and German citizens for Turkey?s EU membership, firstly an overview about Turkey-EU relations has been realized, upon which the German public opinion about Turkey?s accession was analyzed. Thereafter the significance of the public opinion has been explained with the reason of a possible referendum during the time when Turkey has fulfilled all conditions for the membership and is ready for the EU accession. As a final step in the study, the linkage between the representation of Turkish immigrants in the German printed media and the opposition of the German public in respect to Turkey?s accession into the EU has been clarified.