Turkish Berlin: Integration Policy and Urban Space (Globalization and Community) by Hinze Annika Marlen

Author:Hinze, Annika Marlen [Hinze, Annika Marlen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2013-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

Döner or Currywurst?

Negotiating Turkish Immigrant Identity in Berlin

A food metaphor accurately describes the choice of identity Turkish immigrants in Berlin face: Should they opt for Currywurst , 3 a traditional Berlin specialty, or Döner Kebap , a Turkish specialty sold at every street corner in Berlin? Exploring Turkish immigrant identity through interviews with women of Turkish immigrant background living in Berlin-Kreuzberg and Berlin-Neukölln lies at the heart of this book. The fragmented nature of Turkish women’s perceptions of their personal and social group identity leads to an understanding of the inherently hybrid nature of their identity and its embeddedness in alternative integration practices that are constituted by and inextricably tied to space itself—the neighborhood space.

Not All Turks Like Döner

A shared immigration background and hybrid identity, however, do not warrant a conclusion of homogeneity among the Turkish immigrant population. Turkish immigrant identity is highly contested along the lines of religion (Sunni Muslim, Alevi) and secularism as well as Turkish and Kurdish ethnic identities and language:

Yesterday, we had a conversation where somebody said, “Well, the Turks don’t stick together.” First of all, “the Turks” do not exist [as a group identity]. Secondly, for this very reason, because we have so many people with different views, they cannot stick together. The only common denominator is that they [the German Turks] all don’t belong to the majority population, but that is too little, too thin [to create a common identity]. It is complicated, very complicated. … But it can’t be that way [that not belonging to the majority population is enough for a Turkish group identity] because then we would stigmatize ourselves. And reduce our identity to merely being Turkish. (Deniz)

Identity negotiation is personal and can be different for everyone. Turkish immigrant women are aware of the diversity of their own minority group in Germany and often feel like this diversity is not sufficiently addressed or recognized by the majority population:

The thing with Turkish women is that you have to categorize [among them]—there are women that came here later, or, for example, women with head scarves, and then there are women who don’t really want to be Turkish and don’t want to be supported in that way; there are women who have made their way, who have an individual identity for themselves, and women like me maybe, who can function in both [German and Turkish] societies and want to exist and remain in both. (Esin)

This implies also that identity formation and integration are in part individual processes. Integration strategies designed by policy makers to target generalities (such as visual–cultural difference), cannot capture these individualities. Policy platforms tend to streamline integration policies, addressing not only German Turks as a homogeneous group but often grouping them together with Germans of Arabic descent from different countries. This approach reduces the diversity of the Turkish immigrant population in Germany to the only trait the immigrants do have in common: their country of origin. In contrast, most immigrants are aware of their own identity, which they often place within a specific subcategory that cannot be accurately described solely as simply Turkish immigrant.

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