Nearly 70 percent of Turkish people in 11 European countries see the countries they live in as their permanent home, according to a recent study conducted by a Turkish university.

People of Turkish origin who migrated to countries in western Europe since the beginning of the 1960s, that is the first generation of migrants, have become “an integral part of Europe,” concluded the survey, conducted by Hacettepe University Migration and Politics Research Center (HÜGO) in March 2013.

The survey analyzed a sample of 2634 persons over the age of 14, in countries where 100,000 or more people of Turkish origin were residing. This list included nine EU countries (Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, Belgium and Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland) as well as Switzerland and Norway.

The population of Turkish origin living in Europe did not encounter any problems in their integration to the country they lived in, according to at least 82.5 percent of respondents, the survey said.

The primary indicator of this was the duration of residence, 91 percent of the population of Turkish origin, who still reside in Europe, were either born there or had been living there for more than 11 years, the survey found.

Another indicator of the residence was “citizenship.” Half of the population of Turkish origin living in Europe, that is 2.5 million, are today citizens of the country in which they reside, meaning that a majority have become EU citizens, according to the study. “Approximately half of this population also maintains their citizenship of the Republic of Turkey. In this sense, trans-national migrant identity is clearly seen.”

You may read the whole article: here

Good news and also another proof of Europe´s general success in the fields of human rights and economy. Europe is still an attractive destination.

It is also my feeling that this is likely the case, which also goes against what some people say about Turkish people being discriminated in Europe.

The new generation "fire proof" Turks will fit in perfectly !

It is your optimistic feeling, reality says otherwise. 

For those who may be interested:

Turks in Europe

I think there are a few common misconceptions about this issue.

One of them is importance of Turkey for EU. In Turkey, because of the politicians we have been told that "Turks are great; we,Turks, scared them, Europeans, in history; they are always biased against the Turks; we live in one of the most important  place on earth so they have eyes on our land etc;". This is partially  understandable, considering what happened 100 years ago and the nation-state building process, but it is not the reailty. One of my friends who is studying his post doctorate here told me a few weeks ago that he is amazed how Turkey is very little mentioned in political talks in EU. He thought that Turkey has been playing a major role in EU politics. Actually, Turkey is not that important as much as we Turks normally think for EU.   

The other one is the racism against the Turks in EU. Yes there is a degree of racism in EU but not specifically against the Turks. Discrimination against a black person is more common comparing to Turks or any other ethnic minorities. But there is no specific racism or discrimination against Turks. Of course there might be some regional differences -ie a condensed population of an ethnic grup can be subjected to discrimination with their names.. calling ´pakis´ of pakistani origins in Birmingham for example.- The degree of racism and discrimination is hugely differing the racism you see in developing countries as well. (Kurdish politicians kept saying that "give the same rights Turks in EU have to us in Turkey, there would not be a problem" for example).**

The other subject is to mention that most of these Turks in EU, which is the biggest etchnic minority, are either economic or political refugees. Mainly economic of course. We are getting more integrated and more self confident about our rights and what we can do in EU countries. I think the days of Turks only known as kebap selling people is kind of gone. We are in Europe as ourselves. We are paying our taxes and trying to be good citizens. That is why the other day I was trying to say that instead of being a glorious Turk who conquered the world or sunnis or alevies or Kurds or Armenians, just trying to be a good citizens might be enough for a peaceful country to live in.

**As an example of the degree of racism, the other day I read a story about a teacher in Turkey. A kurdish origin teacher after working as a teacher in the east and west part of Turkey and even becoming a headmaster, retired and bought a small land in a small viallage in  Ayvalik. The first week, the men of the village said that they wanted to visit the family. The retired teacher thought there would be a kind of welcome thing. He even prepared some snacks for the guests.. But he was told that they did not want him in the village and they wanted to buy his land with the same price. Poor guy, he thought it is not worth trying in his retirement and sold his land and bought somewhere different. 

The most dangerous type of racism is not calling names in the streets but discrimination which has settled in the structures of our societies. Turks often like to see complots even in places where there are none but many people say the difference between the treatment Turkey gets from EU and the treatment Greece gets is kind of worrying and there is good reason to believe the reason for that is deep in the European attitudes separating people into "us" and "them".

Have you not noticed that friendly messages, wishes of cooperation in Aegean Sea, mention of good old days are floating around in Turkish-Greek relations, since Greeks realized that EU had taken Greece for a ride ?

This should not surprise anyone who knows the history of relations between these two countries.

The general rule is whenever Greece feels rich or powerfull enough and they arey are sure that at least 7 Europen states plus USA and Israel will back them up, they run to strain the bilateral relations; the relations are relaxed and friendship flows however. when Turkia holds the upper hand.

I wonder if we can help our neighbour put his economics in order, without risking the prevailing peace ? ( No money in Greece, no more dog fights between combat jets in Aegean skies)

Instead of dog fight now thanks to you we do mouth fight

You probably prefer dog fights !

Naturally !

I prefer love fights

I liked your reply, so I will let you in on a little historical  secret.

You must have heard of the friendly relations between Atatürk of Turkia and Venizelos of Greece.

Check the dates; you will find that date of sweet relations concide with completion of repairs for Turkish naval destroyer YAVUZ.

Yavuz, at the time, equalled almost the total Greek navy.

A book

By Retired Admiral CEM GÜRDENİZ (currently in Silivri)

http://www.denizhaber.com/HABER/32156/1/cem-gurdeniz-hedefteki-donanma.html

İsveç’te çocuklar için hazırlanan ve "Mustafa’nın Büfesi" adıyla yayınlanan hikaye kitabında, Müslümanları aşağılayan ırkçı ifadeler ve karikatürler kullanılması üzerine ülkedeki Müslüman gruplar ayağa kalktı. Tepkiler üzerine yayınevi sahibi özür diledi.

Danimarkalı yazar Jakob Martin Strid’in çocuk kitabı "Mustafa’s kiosk (Mustafa’nın Büfesi)" İsveç diline çevrilerek yayınlandı.

Kitapta, büfe sahibi olan Mustafa’nın çok çirkin bir yüz ifadesiyle, kafasında büyük bir sarık ve masasının üzerinde de kılıç ile tasvir edildiği görülüyor. Mustafa adı verilen karakter, kitapta, çocuklara, masasında duran kılıcı ile insanların kafasını nasıl uçurduğunu anlatıyor.

Kitaptaki tasvir ve ifadelere tepki gösteren İsveçli Müslümanlar, tepkilerini sosyal paylaşım siteleri üzerinden yayınevine ve yazara iletti. Müslümanlar, kitapla İsveçli küçük çocuklara Müslümanlarla ilgili ırkçılık duyguları aşılandığı, çocukların, kitaptaki maceraları gerçek olarak düşünebilecekleri ve İslamofobi ile büyümelerine neden olunabileceğini kaydetti.

-Yayınevi sahibi üzüntüsünü bildirdi- Kitabı yayınlayan Kabusa yayınevinin sahibi Kerstin Aronsson, yaptığı açıklamada, kendisine de bu konuda çok sayıda tepki içeren e-posta ve telefon geldiğini söyledi.

Tepkilerin yanında kitabı beğenen çok sayıda okuyucu da olduğunu kaydeden Aronsson, "Kitabı okuyan birçok insan, kitapta ırkçı bir söylem olduğunu fark etmediğini bildirdi ama eğer kitapta böyle bir ifade varsa çok üzgün olduğumu bildirmek isterim" dedi.

Eleştirilerin artması üzerine yayınevi şirketi, facebook sayfasında yayınladığı bir bildiri ile kitapta yeralan ifade ve karikatürlerden dolayı rahatsızlık duyan çocuklardan ve büyüklerden özür dilediklerini açıkladı.

Açıklamada, "Kitaptaki ifadelerden dolayı zarar gören veya rahatsız olan çocuklardan ve büyüklerden içtenlikle özür dileriz" ifadesi kullanıldı.

http://www.haberturk.com/dunya/haber/837344-muslumanlar-ayaga-kalkti

http://www.sabah.de/etiket/donerci-cinayetleri/

http://www.aa.com.tr/tr/politika/149757--alman-mahkemesi-turk-heyetini-almaktan-niye-cekiniyor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMxsNDwFQFM

http://www.rnw.nl/english/video/%E2%80%9Ctens-thousands-girls-abused-dutch-priests%E2%80%9D

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2007/06/un-dutch-complicity-in-srebrenica.html

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=400_1218160125

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXUX34kpK_w

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/news/mn-40777

As a result of a long political and bureaucratic process adhan (the Islamic call for prayer) was heard for the first time from a minaret of a mosque at Fittja, to the South of Stockholm.

http://hbl.fi/nyheter/2013-04-26/443721/sveriges-forsta-boneutrop-hordes-i-fittja

One of them is importance of Turkey for EU. In Turkey, because of the politicians we have been told that "Turks are great; we,Turks, scared them, Europeans, in history; they are always biased against the Turks; we live in one of the most important  place on earth so they have eyes on our land etc;". This is partially  understandable, considering what happened 100 years ago and the nation-state building process, but it is not the reailty.

The observation made here is generally correct, but the analysis that follows is total bulshit..

That the ignorant average European is afraid of a closer encounter with Turks, based on historical experience is true. Also correct is that they do not particularly like the Turks.

The leaders, on the other hand, have more data, knowledge and intellect on their hands, thru which they can see the future of Turkey, as well as Europe. Their better judgement dictates them that Turkey is indispensible for European countries.

My guess is that Turkia will be dictating the terms of partnership, if we ever come to that stage.

Soon, there will be a loudspeaker added to the minaret,

Really?