The findings have filled many Germans with a sense of foreboding and are
certain to contribute to the ongoing debate (here, here and here) about Muslim
integration (or, rather, lack of it) in Germany.

The 103-page study, “German-Turkish Life and Values” (abridged
version in German here), was jointly
produced by the Berlin-based INFO polling institute and the Antalya,
Turkey-based Liljeberg research firm, and was released
to the public on August 17, as a follow-up to similar studies conducted in 2009 and 2010. It aims to
determine just how satisfied the estimated 2.7 million Turks living in Germany
are with their life there.
Of those Turks surveyed, 27% were born in Germany
(77% of 15- to 29-year-olds were born in Germany)
and 39% have lived in Germany
for at least 30 years. Only 15% of Turks, however, consider Germany to be their home —
compared to 21% in 2009, and 18% in 2010.
The survey also shows that labor migration is no longer the main reason why
Turks immigrate to Germany;
only one in five respondents said they had gone to Germany to look for work. Rather,
the most important reason Turks gave for immigrating to Germany was to marry a partner who
lived there. More than half of the Turkish women interviewed said they moved to
Germany
for that reason.
In the area of language, the survey shows a major generational gap. Overall,
only 37% of Turkish-origin men and 27% of Turkish-origin women speak better
German than Turkish. Nevertheless, in the 15 to 29 age category, 75% of those
surveyed speak better German than Turkish. Meanwhile, those in the 30 to 49 age
category, 71% of those surveyed speak better Turkish than German.
While 91% of Turks surveyed believe that Turkish-origin children need to learn
German from an early age, 90% also say that children absolutely must learn
Turkish. A growing number of Turks (53%) believe that German teachers of
Turkish-origin children need to understand the Turkish language to be able to
help children having difficulty with the German language.
In the area of hypothetical voting patterns, the vast majority (80%) of Turks
surveyed say they would vote for leftwing or far-leftwing parties if they were
able to vote in Germany. 50% said they would vote for the center-left Social
Democrats (SPD), 26% would vote for the leftwing Green party and 5% would vote
for the far-left Die Linke. Only 13% would vote for the center-right Christian
Democrats (CDU/CSU).
Almost all Turks surveyed (95%) said it is absolutely necessary for them to
preserve their Turkish identity; in a sign indicating that efforts at
integration have a long way to go, 62% said they would rather be around Turks
than around Germans (in the 2010 survey, it was 40%). Only 39% of Turks said
that Germans were trustworthy.
At the same time, 87% of those surveyed said they believe that German society
should make a great effort to be considerate of the customs and traditions of
Turkish immigrants.
Of those Turks surveyed, 72% believe that Islam is the only true religion (in
the 2010 survey, it was 69%); 18% say Jews are inferior people and 10% say
Christians are inferior.
Arguably the most sobering finding of the study is that 46% of Turks say they
hope that Germany will one day have more Muslims than Christians (in the 2010
survey, it was 33%). More than half of Turks (55%) believe that Germany
should build more mosques.
More than 90% of Turks surveyed consider themselves to be religious; only 9%
label themselves as “not religious” (37% say they are highly
religious). The survey shows high levels of religiosity (91%) among the younger
generation of Turks (ages 15 to 29) living in Germany.
The study also finds that 63% of Turks aged 15 to 29 year-olds approve of the radical Islamist campaign to distribute
a Koran to every household in Germany,
and 36% of the young people said they would be willing to support the Salafist
campaign financially with donations.
By contrast, 69% of those over the age of 50 (the older generation was heavily
influenced by Kemalism) are opposed to
the campaign called Project
“READ!”