The role of Turkish ngo in identity conservation and generation/The Köln case Germany

Immigrant's NGO A flow of manpower started into West European countries which began to experience a rapid process of industrialisation and reconstruction after World War II. A similar flow of manpower from Turkey to Germany started according to a treaty signed inn 1961. Since Germany stopped taking any more workers from Turkey, the Turkish workforce has continued to survive in the form of the Turkish population's integration with that of Germany since 1973. Yearnings or desires to "return to homeland" have gradually replaced by "permanent residence." As well as those who arrived from Turkey and settled in Germany, especially those who were born in Germany began to grow up in an environment rather alien to their culture and values, which has forced Turks to set up and spread social organisations to meet their social needs. The idea of "permanent residence" has caused societies, primarily mosque/religious societies to become widespread especially in areas densely populated by Turks. It is clearly observed that initially civil Turkish societies emerged as the extensions of political views in Turkey. Therefore, Turkish societies in Germany born out of a necessity attempted to solve their problems under the influence of Turkey. This attitude continued until the mid 1990s. However, in the last decade Turks and Turkish societies in Europe have preferred to solve their problems independently from Turkey, in the light of their own realities. 35,5 percent of the total Turkish population in Germany was born in this country. The first and second generations of Turkish people who were born and grew up in Germany go to German schools and speak German in all walks of life except in small social groups such as family environment and Turkish societies. Youths of the new generation who socialise in a milieu far from the culture of their parents have great troubles recognising their own cultural identity and living in accordance with their cultural roots. The present research deals with the role of the Turkish NGO in Germany in the preservation of Turkish youth's cultural identity and generation of new identity. Also included in the present research are the strategies pursued for the preservation of values of cultural identity and their regeneration in Germany, the cultural politics of Germany, the functions, missions and visions of the Turkish NGO and a detailed coverage of the role of so called societies in preservation and generation of culture. To this end, a survey was administered in Köln to 270 youths aged 10-20. Along with the main questionnaire, they were given two scales, namely, a Scale Showing Access to Turkish NGO and Frequency of Attendance (Türk Derneklerinden Yararlanma ve Sıklık Ölçeği: TDYSÖ) and a Scale of Attitude to Turkish NGO (Türk Derneklerine Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği: TDYTÖ). In the survey the questions about language, religion, culture, identity as well as questions about the phenomenal situation, were asked to be answered by the selected group. Through the survey TDYSÖ, for what reasons and how often the youngsters utilised the Turkish societies and the other survey TDYTÖ was intended to find out whether the youths' attitude to the Turkish societies in Germany were favourable.