The Millî Görüş movement’s view on Muslims in the West: Turkish migration to Germany as a case study

Abstract

This article explores the ideas of the most prominent Turkish-Islamist movement which operated in the late twentieth century, Millî Görüş (‘The National Outlook’). The research focuses on the evolution of their view on Muslim migration to ‘the West’ (focusing on Germany as a case study). The article demonstrates a substantive change in the movement’s discourse on the subject. During the early 1970s, prominent Turkish Islamist politicians and intellectuals warned Turks against migrating to Germany. They warned of migrating to a morally corrupt country, filled with ‘Western’ values which are alien to Islam, a country in which Turks will neither make a good living, nor manage to hold on to an Islamic lifestyle. Two decades later, during the 1990s, Turkish migration to Germany was presented by the Millî Görüş as a model of Islamic life, Germany was portrayed as an example of a country which allows Muslims religious freedoms they can only dream of in Turkey, and migrants were shown as exemplary Muslims. This article suggests a few causes for the Millî Görüş movement’s discursive change on Turkish migration to Germany, from initially seeing it as a liability, but – eventually – as an asset.