Integration Discussions and Turks in the Construction of Austrian Nation Identity

After the 'Worker Migration' between Austria and Turkey on May 15, 1964, the reflections of the integration discussions in Austria on the Austrian nation identi-ty were evaluated with a 'constructive' approach within the framework of the litera-ture and interviews. The Republic of Turkey, which turned its face to the 'Western' world, including the last period of the Ottoman Empire, took an important step towards the European Union by applying for partnership with the European Economic Community of the period on 31 July 1959. Turkey-Austria relations go back to the history of the Otto-man Empire and the Habsburg Empire. Austria, which received Marshall aid, after the 2nd World War, needed manpower for its reconstruction. It was agreed that this need could be met temporarily and alternatively from Turkey. After the 'Worker Migration', the number of Turkish citizens in Austria ap-proached 300,000 today. Over time, the stay period of the Turks who settled in Aus-tria began to take place on the agenda of Austria. Debates were sometimes used as political material. All these developments have affected the social structure and na-tional identity of Austria. In this study, the adaptation process of Turks to Austrian society and its reflections on national identity in this last case were investigated. In this context, data were collected through literature research and interviews, the ob-tained data were analyzed through the MAXQDA – 2022 program.