Islam, Conflict, and Integration: Turkish Religious Associations in Germany

A comparison of the two largest Turkish Islamic organizations in Germany, Diyanet Isleri Turk Islam Birliği and Islamische Gemeinschaft Milli Gorus, challenges the dichotomous categorization of Muslim organizations as “good” or “bad.” On the one hand, the Turkish state supports Diyanet Isleri Turk Islam Birliği, which promotes Islam in private life as a source of individual piety and loyalty to the Turkish state. On the other hand, Milli Gorus, which originally supported political Islam in Turkey, is now working to gain public recognition of Islam in Germany. Relying on extensive fieldwork data and interviews with the executive members of these two organizations, this essay concludes that a comparative approach to their views on immigrant integration in general and the headscarf debate in particular shows that they both have ambivalent approaches to Muslim incorporation in Europe.