Presidential election: German-Turks mostly vote for Erdogan in the runoff election

In the runoff election for the Turkish presidency, a clear majority of those eligible to vote in Germany voted for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With around 95 percent of the ballot boxes counted from Germany, the incumbent received 67.4 percent of the votes from this group, according to figures from the state news agency Anadolu in the evening. Official figures from the electoral authority on the result of the runoff election in Germany were not yet available.

Erdogan had previously declared himself the winner of the election – even before the end of the vote count. After counting 99.43 percent of the votes, the electoral authorities finally announced that Erdogan had received 52.14 percent and opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu 47.86 percent of the votes.

Erdogan again performed significantly better among voters in Germany than overall. In the first ballot two weeks ago, he got 65.5 percent of the votes from the German-Turks. In the 2018 election it was 64.8 percent.

Gökay Sofuoglu, leader of the Turkish community in Germany, said it was a highly emotional campaign from both sides. “And you know that when it comes to emotions, nobody can actually win against Erdogan.”

Various reasons for Erdogan’s success in Germany

According to Yunus Ulusoy from the Center for Turkish Studies in Essen, there are many reasons why Erdogan is so well received by voters in Germany: On the one hand, many people who came to Germany in the course of labor migration in the middle of the last century come from the Anatolian heartland. Conservative-religious lifestyles prevailed there – the values ​​were passed on to the next generations, said Ulusoy.

Especially with the younger generation, which was actually completely socialized in Germany, there is also an attitude of defiance from time to time. Ulusoy said that sometimes hurtful experiences had been made that being a Turk or a Muslim was not very important in Germany. “And then there comes a president who gives them the feeling of recognizing this value, emphasizing their belonging to Turkey and, last but not least, speaking to their emotions, their hearts. And Erdogan does that very, very well.”

In addition, Erdogan has a powerful organizational structure in Germany, he said. “The conservative milieus are well organized in Germany.” Turkish media also dominate in many households – much of which is controlled by the government. In the elections in Germany, however, he did not notice anything that would have been noticeably unfair, said Ulusoy. The opposition party CHP was represented everywhere in the polling stations. It was a very peaceful election considering how politically divided Turkish society is.

Sofuoglu: German politics in demand

Sofuoglu from the Turkish Community in Germany said there was a split situation in Germany when it came to Turkey policy. Now he is looking forward to being able to focus more on topics in Germany again. “We have a lot of issues here that we have to tackle together, that affect us all,” he said. He referred to the 30th anniversary of the racist arson attack in Solingen on Monday.

It is also important to analyze why people of Turkish origin in Germany are increasingly voting for Erdogan, said Sofuoglu. But German politics is also called upon here: “If people are so interested in politics – why can’t they be won over to the political debate in Germany?” he said.

Motorcades and cheers in Duisburg

In the evening, numerous supporters of Erdogan took to the streets in Duisburg. According to the police, there were several hundred vehicles and several hundred people on foot in the north of the city – where many people of Turkish origin live. According to a police spokesman, apart from the occasional ignition of pyrotechnics, it remained peaceful. A video published on Twitter showed a motorcade in Munich. According to the police, there was a smaller demonstration in Essen in front of the consulate general there.

The likely victory of the incumbent President has already been celebrated in Berlin. Around the Kottbusser Tor there were a few smaller motorcades of supporters in the evening. Controversy arose within the Turkish community in pubs around the city. “We’re not happy,” said Turkish women Cansa and Billur (both 30) in a bar at Kottbusser Tor. 46-year-old Berna was convinced that Erdogan’s foreseeable victory would further divide the Turkish community in the capital. “The fronts are very hardened,” she told the German Press Agency on Sunday evening.