Turks in Austria
Encyclopedia
Turks in Austria are people of Turkish
ethnicity living in Austria
who form the largest ethnic minority in Austria.
which had been occupied by the Ottoman Empire
up to the 1530s, the majority of Ottoman Turks
left the areas conquered by the Austrians; however, a number of them came to live under Austrian rule. When Joseph II
ascended the throne, the Turkish language
was one of ten languages spoken in Austria.
Austria halted guest worker recruitment in the 1970s, and dealt with family reunification
among the settled guest workers. Furthermore, as a result of the 1973-74 recession
, Austria began to deport large numbers of foreign workers. As a response to the recession, a new law- the Aliens Employment Act- was passed in 1975. Attempts were also made to get foreign workers to return home by offering them financial incentives. However, in the mid-1980s, in a favourable growth situation the Austrian economy resorted once more to foreign labour markets and Turkish guest workers came again.
Turkish migrants and their families constitute an important minority in Austria’s increasingly multicultural demography. According to the 2001 census, there was 127,226 Turkish nationals living in Austria (1.6% of the total population). 39,119 lived in Vienna
, 19,911 in Lower Austria
, 18,838 in Vorarlberg
, 17,226 in Upper Austria
, 16,017 in Tyrol
, 8,800 in Salzburg
, 4,793 in Styria, 1,280 in Burgenland
and 1,192 in Carinthia
. However, official data regarding the Turkish community excludes Austrian-born and dual heritage children of Turkish origin. According to Andreas Mölzer
, there is now 500,000 people of Turkish origin living in Austria.
level (3.07 children per Turkish woman in 1955-60). Two thirds of Turkish-born women have three or more children and the progression rate to a third child (0.74) is more than twice as high as that of Austrian-born women. Almost 12% of children born in 2005 were born to foreign mothers; however this does not include births to naturalised immigrant women. Whereas the native Austrian women reached the lowest total fertility level of 1.29 after 2000, Turkish women approached three children.
is spoken by the majority of the Turkish community, with 71,000 in Vienna alone. In 1991, there was some 120,000 Turkish speakers in Austria which was the third most spoken language. However, in 2001, Turkish was spoken by 183,445 people (2.3% of the Austrian population) and was therefore the second most spoken language in Austria. 60,028 of the Turkish-speaking persons were holding the Austrian citizenship at the time of the census in 2001. Various characteristics account for the high degree of language maintenance in the Turkish community. There are relatively few exogamous marriages
and prospective spouses are generally looked for in Turkey. Turkish is also seen as an important commitment because of a possible move back to Turkey, and frequent summer holidays to Turkey re-establishes important Turkish-medium kinship and friendship bonds. Moreover, there is easy access to the Turkish media through satellite dishes and children are exposed to standard Turkish schools.
Children tend to grow up as successive bilinguals, meaning they start off as either Turkish monolinguals or as Turkish-dominant bilinguals. Until age 4, they tend to acquire Turkish in more or less the same way as their monolingual peers in Turkey. However, bilingual children start to change the balance of their two languages, the dominance tips from Turkish towards the majority language after age 8, presumably because of a dramatic decrease in Turkish input when they start school. However, this varies according to whether a child grows up in a solidly Turkish part of town or in an area with relatively few Turks.
advanced towards Central Europe
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Muslims have been present in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. After 1730, a community of Muslim merchants was established in Vienna. Furthermore, a Turkish ambassador resided in Vienna, and the Ottoman Empire’s embassy hosted a mosque
and an imam
.
Islam in Austria has now become dominated by Turks, since labour immigration started during the 1960s, reaching its peak during the following decade. The census in 1981 showed a total of 77,000 residents- of these, 53,000 were Turks. Over the next two decades, the Muslim population grew to 300,000 which consisted of 140,000 Turkish nationals.
and a regular waiting period of ten years for naturalisation. The new law shifted the burden of proof to the individual immigrant, who now has to show that they are sufficiently integrated into Austrian society. Most importantly, the migrant has to prove that they are economically self-sufficient, that is, not in need of social assistance, and sufficiently capable in speaking German. Minor criminal offences can also constitute reasons for denial of citizenship.
Since June 1995, Turkish emigrants who naturalise abroad can keep their citizenship rights in Turkey (apart from political rights). The pink-card provides former Turkish citizens with rights to residence, employment, acquisition of real estate and inheritance. Since then, naturalisations of Turkish citizens in Austria (particularly in Vienna) have been increasing significantly, but declined sharply since 2007. Between 1995-2008 108,630 Turkish nationals became Austrian citizens.
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
ethnicity living in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
who form the largest ethnic minority in Austria.
History
| Turkish Citizens in Austria | |||||||
| Year | Population | Year | Population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 112 | 2000 | 126,995 | ||||
| 1961 | 217 | 2001 | 127,226 | ||||
| 1971 | 16,423 | 2002 | 127,018 | ||||
| 1981 | 59,900 | 2003 | 122,931 | ||||
| 1991 | 118,579 | 2004 | 116,882 | ||||
| 1997 | 132,737 | 2005 | 113,635 | ||||
| 1998 | 131,729 | 2006 | 108,808 | ||||
| 1999 | 127,533 | 2007 | 109,716 | ||||
Early settlement
After the reconquest of Austrian territoriesAustrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
which had been occupied by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
up to the 1530s, the majority of Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
left the areas conquered by the Austrians; however, a number of them came to live under Austrian rule. When Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
ascended the throne, the Turkish language
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
was one of ten languages spoken in Austria.
Immigration to Austria
Faced with a shortage of workers, Austria was heavily reliant on labour immigration for post-war reconstruction and economic expansion. Turkey signed a bilateral agreement with Austria on May 15, 1964. Turks were recruited to Austria as guest workers with no intentions of settling for good. However, many married, gave birth to children, and decided to stay in Austria.Austria halted guest worker recruitment in the 1970s, and dealt with family reunification
Family reunification
Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries. The presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the family to immigrate to that country as well....
among the settled guest workers. Furthermore, as a result of the 1973-74 recession
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, Austria began to deport large numbers of foreign workers. As a response to the recession, a new law- the Aliens Employment Act- was passed in 1975. Attempts were also made to get foreign workers to return home by offering them financial incentives. However, in the mid-1980s, in a favourable growth situation the Austrian economy resorted once more to foreign labour markets and Turkish guest workers came again.
Demographics
| Turkish Citizens in Austria | |||||||
| States of Austria States of Austria Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms... |
1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
16.423 | 59.900 | 118.579 | 127.226 | |||
| Burgenland Burgenland Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east... |
33 | 238 | 630 | 1.280 | |||
| Carinthia Carinthia (state) Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group... |
23 | 173 | 595 | 1.192 | |||
| Lower Austria Lower Austria Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria... |
3.479 | 10.125 | 18.129 | 19.911 | |||
| Upper Austria Upper Austria Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg... |
1.261 | 5.665 | 13.233 | 17.226 | |||
| Salzburg Salzburg -Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for... |
951 | 2.986 | 6.558 | 8.800 | |||
| Styria | 140 | 401 | 1.560 | 4.793 | |||
| Tyrol Tyrol (state) Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of... |
1.664 | 6.890 | 13.652 | 16.017 | |||
| Vorarlberg Vorarlberg Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein... |
5.049 | 13.712 | 20.346 | 18.838 | |||
| Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre... |
3.823 | 19.710 | 43.876 | 39.119 | |||
Turkish migrants and their families constitute an important minority in Austria’s increasingly multicultural demography. According to the 2001 census, there was 127,226 Turkish nationals living in Austria (1.6% of the total population). 39,119 lived in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, 19,911 in Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
, 18,838 in Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
, 17,226 in Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
, 16,017 in Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
, 8,800 in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, 4,793 in Styria, 1,280 in Burgenland
Burgenland
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...
and 1,192 in Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
. However, official data regarding the Turkish community excludes Austrian-born and dual heritage children of Turkish origin. According to Andreas Mölzer
Andreas Mölzer
Andreas Mölzer is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Freedom Party of Austria.- Biography :...
, there is now 500,000 people of Turkish origin living in Austria.
Birth rates
Among the foreign born women, the growing Turkish minority stands out for its high fertilityFertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
level (3.07 children per Turkish woman in 1955-60). Two thirds of Turkish-born women have three or more children and the progression rate to a third child (0.74) is more than twice as high as that of Austrian-born women. Almost 12% of children born in 2005 were born to foreign mothers; however this does not include births to naturalised immigrant women. Whereas the native Austrian women reached the lowest total fertility level of 1.29 after 2000, Turkish women approached three children.
| Period | Austrian citizens | Foreign citizens | Turkish citizens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984-89 | 1.43 | 2.22 | 3.70 |
| 1990-94 | 1.41 | 2.21 | 3.09 |
| 1995-99 | 1.31 | 2.06 | 2.63 |
| 2000-04 | 1.29 | 2.04 | 2.92 |
Language
The Turkish languageTurkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
is spoken by the majority of the Turkish community, with 71,000 in Vienna alone. In 1991, there was some 120,000 Turkish speakers in Austria which was the third most spoken language. However, in 2001, Turkish was spoken by 183,445 people (2.3% of the Austrian population) and was therefore the second most spoken language in Austria. 60,028 of the Turkish-speaking persons were holding the Austrian citizenship at the time of the census in 2001. Various characteristics account for the high degree of language maintenance in the Turkish community. There are relatively few exogamous marriages
Exogamy
Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside of a social group. The social groups define the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. In social studies, exogamy is viewed as a combination of two related aspects:...
and prospective spouses are generally looked for in Turkey. Turkish is also seen as an important commitment because of a possible move back to Turkey, and frequent summer holidays to Turkey re-establishes important Turkish-medium kinship and friendship bonds. Moreover, there is easy access to the Turkish media through satellite dishes and children are exposed to standard Turkish schools.
Children tend to grow up as successive bilinguals, meaning they start off as either Turkish monolinguals or as Turkish-dominant bilinguals. Until age 4, they tend to acquire Turkish in more or less the same way as their monolingual peers in Turkey. However, bilingual children start to change the balance of their two languages, the dominance tips from Turkish towards the majority language after age 8, presumably because of a dramatic decrease in Turkish input when they start school. However, this varies according to whether a child grows up in a solidly Turkish part of town or in an area with relatively few Turks.
Code switching
| German language | German-Turkish (code switch) | Turkish language | English language |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ich warte im Bahnhof | Bahnhof'ta bekliyorum | Tren garında bekliyorum | I'm waiting in the train station |
| Das Arbeitsamt ist heute geschlossen | Arbeitsamt bugün kapalı | İşçi Bulma Kurumu bugün kapalı | The employment center/centre is closed today |
| Schreibe es auf! | Schreiben etsene! | Yazsana! | Write it down! |
| Ich habe sie (ihn) kennengelernt | Onu kennenlernen ettim | Onunla tanıştım | I met her (him)/ I have become acquainted with her (him) |
| Ich kaufe ein Handy | Handy kaufen edeceğim | Cep telefonu satın alacağım | I am going to buy a cell phone/I am buying a cell phone |
| Ich habe einen Vertrag abgeschlossen | Vertrag abschließen yaptım | Sözleşme yaptım | I signed a contract |
| Der Arzt hat mich krank geschrieben | Doktor beni krank yazdı | Doktor bana rapor verdi | I've got a note from the doctor |
Religion
Since the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
advanced towards Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Muslims have been present in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. After 1730, a community of Muslim merchants was established in Vienna. Furthermore, a Turkish ambassador resided in Vienna, and the Ottoman Empire’s embassy hosted a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
and an imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
.
Islam in Austria has now become dominated by Turks, since labour immigration started during the 1960s, reaching its peak during the following decade. The census in 1981 showed a total of 77,000 residents- of these, 53,000 were Turks. Over the next two decades, the Muslim population grew to 300,000 which consisted of 140,000 Turkish nationals.
| Naturalisation of Turkish citizens: | |||||||
| Year | Population | Year | Population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 3,201 | 2002 | 12,623 | ||||
| 1996 | 7,492 | 2003 | 13,665 | ||||
| 1997 | 5,064 | 2004 | 13,004 | ||||
| 1998 | 5,664 | 2005 | 9,545 | ||||
| 1999 | 10,324 | 2006 | 7,542 | ||||
| 2000 | 6,720 | 2007 | 2,076 | ||||
| 2001 | 10,046 | 2008 | 1,664 | ||||
Naturalisation
According to the Naturalisation Act 1998, Austrian citizenship is based on the principle of jus sanguinisJus sanguinis
Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...
and a regular waiting period of ten years for naturalisation. The new law shifted the burden of proof to the individual immigrant, who now has to show that they are sufficiently integrated into Austrian society. Most importantly, the migrant has to prove that they are economically self-sufficient, that is, not in need of social assistance, and sufficiently capable in speaking German. Minor criminal offences can also constitute reasons for denial of citizenship.
Since June 1995, Turkish emigrants who naturalise abroad can keep their citizenship rights in Turkey (apart from political rights). The pink-card provides former Turkish citizens with rights to residence, employment, acquisition of real estate and inheritance. Since then, naturalisations of Turkish citizens in Austria (particularly in Vienna) have been increasing significantly, but declined sharply since 2007. Between 1995-2008 108,630 Turkish nationals became Austrian citizens.
See also
- List of Austrian Turks
- Austria–Turkey relationsAustria–Turkey relationsAustrian–Turkish relations are relations between the Austria and the Turkey and their predecessor states.- The Habsburgs and the Ottomans :...
- Turks in Germany
- Turks in EuropeTurks in EuropeThe Turks in Europe refers to Turkish people living in Europe. According to a 2011 academic estimate, there is approximately 9 million Turks living in Europe, excluding those who live in Turkey....