Gökçe Yurdakul
From Guest Workers into Muslims: The Transformation of Turkish Immigrant Associations in Germany
Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, 147 pp.
£29.99 hb., (ISBN 978-1-4438-0060-0)

In From Guest Workers into Muslims, Gökçe Yurdakul draws on interviews, participant observations, documentary sources as well as personal experiences during her adolescent life in Istanbul ‘to explore how immigrants create their own strategies of integration by political participation and negotiate their social rights and obligations with the German state’ (p.1). The book reveals the heterogeneity of five Turkish immigrant associations in Berlin and powerfully illustrates how each has its own ways of dealing with conflicts based on the interests and socio-political context of its members. It shows how immigrants establish associations to politically resist the status quo that denies them social and political rights. 

The first three chapters provide the theoretical framework and socio-historical foundations for the case studies that follow. Yurdakul begins by arguing that much of the migration literature has looked at diversity management without fully considering the perspectives of migrants. The issue of ‘how immigrants make claims and negotiate memberships through immigrant associations’ and ‘how immigrants transform the civic traditions of the new country through their own associations’ (p.11) is one of the strengths of this book. The author operationalises Bauböck’s discussion of conflicts between the majority society and migrants. Distributive conflicts assume that immigrants are financial burdens on the majority society; cultural conflicts assume that immigrant cultures and norms threaten the homogeneity of the national majority; and boundary conflicts ask whether immigrants can be members of the country of settlement. Yurdakul vividly illustrates how these conflicts motivate Turkish immigrant associations to emerge as political actors and to develop strategies that range from the promotion of Turkish nationalism in Germany to assimilation into the host society. 

The third chapter covers some well-trodden ground by discussing six events that have been important in the lives of Turkish and other immigrants in Germany: labour migration under the guest worker system, the arrival of family members after the introduction of the family reunification law, the settlement of asylum seekers in Germany after the military coup d’état in Turkey, the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 1999 introduction of the new citizenship law, and September 11 and its implications for Turks and other Muslims. What is fascinating, though, is Yurdakul’s account of the emergence of Turkish immigrant associations partly as a result of a lack of German language skills, partly as a result of the socialisation of Turkish men in coffeehouses where they discuss politics, and partly as a result of political transformations in Turkey and resulting waves of asylum seekers.   

The discussion of the various Turkish immigrant associations in chapters four to six is highly illuminating and a pleasure to read as the author provides rich insights into ethnic-oriented, religiously-focused and trade union-based immigrant associations. Yurdakul begins with a portrayal of the Federation for Democratic Workers’ Associations, which represents Turkish migrant workers and promotes ‘the unification of Turkish, Kurdish and German working classes’ (p.49). But, according to Yurdakul, ‘it has failed to politically incorporate Turkish immigrant workers and refuges into German society’ (p.57) because of a shift from workers’ rights to citizens’ rights, such as equality in education, and a general distrust in unions following rising unemployment in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Instead, political participation takes places through ethnic-oriented associations. In chapter five, Yurdakul compares and contrasts the Turkish Federation of Berlin-Brandenburg (TBB) and the Turkish Community of Berlin (Cemaat). Cemaat was founded by locals in one of the coffeehouses in the Berlin suburb of Kreuzberg and is transnationally oriented with strong ties to Turkey. It has a conservative clientele that views Turkishness as an ethno-national identity incompatible with notions of Germanness. In contrast, TBB was founded by highly-educated immigrant students and draws a broadly social-democratic clientele. Its members believe that ‘Turks can maintain a strong minority status in Germany by receiving German citizenship, thereby becoming entitled to social and political rights’ (p.78). This deep political divide also impedes the development of a single body to represent Muslim interests toward the state and, as Yurdakul maintains, ‘it will be interesting to see which immigrant organisation will win the battle of officially representing Turkish immigrants’ (p.86). 

The religiously-oriented associations Yurdakul compares and contrasts in the penultimate chapter – the Religious Affairs Turkish Islamic Union (Diyanet) and the Islamic Community Milli Görüş – have become increasingly popular in the aftermath of September 11 and focus on Muslim identity and Islam in Germany. Milli Görüş argues that religious and cultural differences should be regarded as constitutional rights, and therefore, Muslim women should be allowed to wear headscarves whereas Diyanet downplays the importance of the headscarf for Muslims in Germany (p.92). Here, and elsewhere, the book would have benefited from a discussion of the current interreligious dialogue between the Government and representatives of Muslim organisations, what is known as Islam conference organised by the German Interior Ministry. The author could have also related her own positioning more convincingly to the finding that Turkish and Kurdish political party members were available for interview whilst German political members were not (p.5). Arguably, similar observations might be made in other contexts where researcher and researched have a similar background. 

This easily accessible and well-researched book makes an important contribution to Political Sociology as well as the Sociology of Migration and Religion. It is highly recommended for students and scholars concerned with the role of Muslims and Islam in Europe. 

										Daniel Faas
                                          		   Department of Sociology
		    Trinity College Dublin	(c) Daniel Faas