It’s official: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more popular amongst Turks in several EU countries than he is in Turkey itself.
Two-thirds of votes cast by the Turkish community in Germany, for example, went to Erdogan. That’s far more than the support he averaged in Turkey, reported Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public international broadcaster:
Erdogan had 65.7 percent of the vote in Germany compared to 52.6 percent in Turkey. And his Justice and Development Party (AKP) had 56.3 support among the Turkish community in Germany, versus 42.5 percent in Turkey.
Turks in various German cities took to the streets to celebrate Erdogan’s win, shouting slogans such as “Allahu akbar” (Allah is the greatest) and “every Turk is born a soldier.” Many Turks in several other countries across Europe — such as Belgium, Holland, Austria, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia — also flocked to the streets in celebration of Erdogan’s win, reported the Turkish Anadolu Agency (AA).
The majority of the Turkish electorate in these countries voted for Erdogan. In Belgium, Erdogan got the votes of 74.9% of the Turkish community; in Holland, 73%; in Austria 72.3%; in France 63.7%; in Luxembourg 60%; in Denmark 57.6%; and in Sweden 44.3%.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf interviewed several Turks in Amsterdam after Erdogan’s win:
“Wait for it”, said a young Turk. “We are already the boss here now. Look around you, this is Turkey, we keep on growing in the Netherlands”. A Turkish friend of the man said: “This is what you’ve allowed, everything is possible here. If you offer people benefits, you shouldn’t whine about people using them.”
The majority of Turkish migrants in many European countries enjoy the freedoms and welfare system in Europe. However, they wholeheartedly support the authoritarian Islamist government of Turkey that crushes human rights and freedoms. The Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) reported last year that Turks in many EU countries overwhelmingly support Erdogan while they vote for European left-wing parties.
The UETD conducted a survey of 2,750 Turkish migrants in Germany, France, and Holland between February 14, 2017, and March 7, 2017, concerning their voting habits and views on politics in Turkey and in the EU countries where they live. The participants were third-generation migrants of Turkish origin between the ages of 18 and 40. The majority were born in the countries where they currently reside.
Approximately six million people of Turkish descent live in EU member countries, according to the report. Germany has the highest Turkish population in Europe, with three million Turkish migrants. It is followed by France (900,000 citizens of Turkish origin), and Holland with a Turkish community of about 480,000. The vast majority of Turkish migrants “vote for centrist left-wing parties in Europe while they vote for centrist right-wing parties” in Turkish elections, including the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), among others.
“The support of the participants for the ruling AKP is high and their support for President Erdogan is even higher,” said the report: 73 percent of the Turks in Holland, 65 percent in France and 66 percent in Germany said that they voted for Erdogan in the previous (2014) presidential elections.
“Religion is an important part of identity building of Turkish migrants in Europe. They have formed a deep and positive bond with the Turkish culture and Islam. 45 percent of Turkish migrants in Germany, 62 percent in France, and 59 percent in Holland define themselves as ‘very pious’”, according to the report. “Two thirds care about transferring the Turkish culture and Turkish Islamic religious tradition to future generations.”
However, the report states that Turkish migrants “cannot identify themselves with either EU politicians or political contents.”
Two-thirds of Turkish migrants in Germany vote for centrist left-wing parties. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is their leading choice (46 percent), while 21 percent responded by saying “they don’t know” or just declined to answer.
However, the support of many Turks for the SPD and other centrist left-wing parties in Germany which they traditionally voted for is also decreasing, as they “think that these parties do not represent them. Also, Turkish migrants are putting a distance between themselves and left-wing parties because of these parties’ policies on Turkey and their support for terrorist organizations such as the PKK [the Kurdistan Workers’ Party],” according to the report.
In the upcoming German elections, only 22 percent of Turkish migrants will vote for the SPD, whereas 41 percent abstained from answering or said they do not yet know. Fifteen percent said they will not vote for any party.
In France, the number one choice of Turkish migrants is the Socialist Party (PS). However, there is “a great amount of uncertainty for the next elections,” according to the report. Two-thirds of the participants (65 percent) said they do not know what party to vote for or declined to answer the question. The popularity of the French Socialist Party among Turkish migrants fell from 27 percent to nine percent, according to the report.
The leading choices of Turkish migrants in Dutch national elections are also the Socialist Party (SP) and the Denk party, largely formed by Turkish and other Muslim migrants.
However, only nine percent of Turkish migrants said they will vote for the SP in the next Dutch elections and 41 percent of the participants said they do not know what party to vote for or left the question unanswered. Seven percent said they will not vote.
Meanwhile, Turkish migrants’ participation in elections to the European Parliament, which have taken place every five years since 1979, has been rather low.
Some 58 percent of Turkish migrants in Holland, 69 percent in France, and 77 percent in Germany said that they have never voted in European Parliament elections.
Turkish migrants also do not actively engage in politics in the countries they live: “88 percent in Germany, 90 percent in France and 94 percent in Holland said they have never become members of any political party in those countries.”
The report also gives information concerning Turkish perception of European media. The vast majority looks at the media of the country where they reside “with suspicion.” Over half of the participants in Germany and France find news about the Turkish state and Turkish migrants published in the media outlets of those two countries to be “biased” and “wrong.” Up to 70 percent of Turkish migrants in Holland are “not pleased” with the news in the Dutch media, according to the report.
The report then reveals a telling reality: “The vast majority emphasizes that they want to live in Germany, France and Holland.”
In 2017, Erdoğan declared his vision for his supporters in Europe, calling on them to have more children:
The places where you work and live are your homelands and new countries now. Lay a tight claim to those places. Open more businesses and enroll your children in better schools. Live with your families in better neighborhoods. Drive the best cars. Live in the most beautiful houses. Make five children — not just three. For you are the future of Europe.
Also, a prominent Turkish government official has been openly and proudly declaring that the demography of Europe is changing in favor of Muslims. MP Alparslan Kavaklıoğlu, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the head of the parliament’s Security and Intelligence Commission, stated:
The fortune and wealth of the world is moving from the West to the East. Europe is going through a time that is out of the ordinary. Its population is declining and aging. It has a very old population. So, people coming from outside get the jobs there. But Europe has this problem. All of the newcomers are Muslim. From Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Those who come from these places are Muslim. It is now at such a level that the most popular name in Brussels, Belgium is Mohammed. The second most popular name is Melih [Malih] and the third one is Ayşe [Aisha].
According to Kavaklıoğlu, if this trend continues:
… [t]he Muslim population will outnumber the Christian population in Europe. This … has increased the nationalistic, xenophobic and anti-Islam rhetoric there. Hence, marginal, small parties have started to get large numbers of votes … But there is no remedy for it. Europe will be Muslim. We will be effective there, Allah willing. I am sure of that.
Turkish voting habits in Europe are a demonstration of a shameless hypocrisy: Many Turkish migrants vote for liberal, pro-migrant parties that support mass Islamic immigration to Europe, and even pave the way for privileges for Muslims. Meanwhile, in Turkey they vote for parties that destroy freedoms, refuse to recognize equality for religious and ethnic minorities, and devastate whole towns.
These voting habits also demonstrate the shocking failure of the EU to integrate many Turkish migrants into European societies.
Turkish migrants’ fervent support for the Islamist, anti-Western dictatorship in Turkey speaks volumes about their own views on Europe and Western civilization. Apparently, many Turks are in Europe not to integrate, but to dominate.
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