The Relationship Between the Police and Third Generation Turkish Immigrants in Germany

Abstract

With globalization, countries’ demographic structures have evolved into multicultural societies and this has laid the groundwork for ethnic, religious and cultural conflicts. The conflict process was also the beginning of ongoing integration problems between the majority in a society and minorities with different origins. Third generation Turkish immigrants are nested with a serious identity problem in Germany today. In this a specific example of multiculturalism, Turkish immigrants have adopted spatial segregation as a security method. This is caused by identity security anxiety and reveals another dimension of alienation and exclusion in modern societies with their criminalization by the police. The police are expected to stop conflict by considering the principle of equality and to reduce discrimination to the minimum level. Criminalizing Turkish immigrants and negative experiences in judicial processes, also shape the confidence people have in the police. Finally, immigrants attempt to seek proper security of their own, in the community, where the sense of trust is also alienated. This article discusses the presence of crime and violence as a part of the everyday life of Turkish immigrants, by what means does subjective security become the cause of objective insecurity, and how two different cultures confront each other due to feelings of insecurity towards the police, in the search for security.