The effect of anti-Turkism in Europe on the voting behavior of Turks in Germany: The case of the Presidential Election 2018

The concepts of Turkophobia and Anti-Turkism, which we can consider within xenophobia, have become a rapidly increasing phenomenon in Europe. These phenomena, which are seen as a different dimension of xenophobia, pose a danger to the unity of Europe as well as to foreigners/immigrants who are in Europe for different reasons. Contrary to European politics, which does not adopt the aims of reducing or eliminating the reflexes of individuals living in European societies such as 'othering' and 'seeing as enemies' with political and integrative policies, it continues to produce policies that support this hostility and marginalization day by day. It is known that immigrants who are forced to see themselves in the "other" category as a result of these policies have difficulties in ensuring integration in their countries. At this point, the 'ballot box', which is the most important element of democratic reactions, can also become a reaction element for immigrants. Voters who systematically evaluate the policies in their countries of citizenship and the countries they live in, develop a voting behavior. In this study; It has been evaluated how Turkish voters living in Europe and especially Germany evaluate the reactions they give to phenomena such as Anti-Turkism / Turkophobia and how they establish a connection with the elections with democratic rights. There are few studies on how the xenophobia phenomenon experienced by Turkish voters living in Germany affects their voting behavior. Thanks to this study, it is aimed to provide a reference to the literature. In this context, the Turkish voters living in Germany who have the competence to vote in the elections in Turkey how to vote in the 2018 presidential elections that affected their behavior in-depth interviews with 40 people / were identified in interviews as a result. Growing hostility towards Turks in Europe and that of AntiTurkism cases became effective in voter participation while voting in elections in Turkey, voters' gave importance to the 'leader' factor and the 'family' factor that held an important place on the voters. Voters displayed more positive tendencies to candidates who felt they were defending themselves.