When Cem Özdemir became the first Turkish-German member of the German parliament, the Bundestag, in 1994, his office soon received many angry calls. "What's going on, what's the Turk doing up there?," an enraged voter complained about the fact that Özdemir – then parliamentary secretary - was sitting on the podium in the center of the Bundestag. "Since when is a Turk allowed to sit up there?"

Today, Özdemir is a fixture in German politics as the leader of the Green party and a main face of their election campaign. He is also one of eleven Germans with Turkish roots in the national parliament.

Read more: What you need to know about Germany's political parties

The fact that Germany is an increasingly diverse country is starting to show in its electorate and political personnel. One in ten eligible voters has a migrant background, meaning that they or their parents were not born as German citizens. A total of 37 out of 631 Bundestag representatives migrated to Germany or are the children of migrants.

German parties and media are starting to devote more attention to the voting behavior of Germans whose parents or great-great-grandparents weren't born in Germany, in particular the two largest migrant groups: so called late repatriates ("Spätaussiedler"), ethnic Germans from largely former Soviet countries, and Turkish-Germans. There are 3.1 million repatriates living in Germany, according to the 2016 Microcensus. The Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) estimates there are 730,000 Germans with Turkish roots eligible to vote in the federal election on September 24.

Read more: German election ballot box closed to 7.8 million residents

To the left, to the left?

Voters with a migrant background tend to prefer "parties from the political left," according to political scientist Andreas Wüst. Those parties tend to be more open towards people with a migrant background and their concerns. While this also applies to Germany, a closer look at different migrant groups reveals that this tendency is certainly not true for all Germans with a migrant background.

According to Dennis Spies, a researcher on voter behavior of Germans with foreign roots, migrant voters are not a monolith political force. "The group [of Germans with a migrant background] is growing, but heavily split politically," Spies told DW. "There is not that ONE type of migrant voter. Why should somebody who came to Germany from Ukraine 20 years ago have the same political preferences as somebody who moved here from southern Turkey? Or somebody who came here from Italy in the 1950s?”

Yet certain trends are visible among certain groups. Late repatriates tend to vote right-wing, Turkish-Germans predominantly cast their ballots for the center-left.

The late repatriate vote

German migration authorities have special rules for ethnic Germans from former Soviet states that make it easier for them to gain German citizenship. Because former Chancellor Helmut Kohl pushed for this after the fall of the Soviet empire, Russian-Germans, Kazach-Germans and the like were long seen as loyal voters of his Christian Democrat party (CDU). But things changed when the CDU's Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to let over a million refugees into the country. "Jealousy does play a part here," political scientist Spies told DW.

The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been targeting Russian-Germans with campaign materials in Russian. This helped the anti-migrant, anti-Islam party score big in districts with a strong Russian-German population in the last few state elections.

The CDU is now attempting to win that vote back, promising higher pensions to repatriates.

Watch video 12:03 Share Competing for the Russian-German vote Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2itxX Competing for the Russian-German vote

The Turkish-German vote

Turkish-German voters have long had strong ties to the Social Democrats (SPD), a result of the fact that most Turks came to Germany as "guest workers" during the economic boom in the 1960s. The SPD has historically been the party of German workers and was among the first to push for a dual citizenship and the rights of migrants. According to a study published by the expert council on integration and migration, 70 percent of all Turks support the SPD – that number is twice as high as in the general electorate. Support for the Greens is also significantly higher among Turkish-Germans compared to the overall electorate.

The growing tension between much of the German political mainstream and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, has put the usual predictions about the German-Turkish vote in question. Erdogan called on Turkish-Germans to boycott the CDU, the SPD and the Greens, whose leading candidates have all criticized his growing autocratic tendencies.

In response to Erdogan's statement, many prominent politicians asked Turkish-Germans to turnout their vote. "Don't let Erdogan push you to the borders of our [German] society," said Aydan Özoguz (SPD), the federal commissioner for integration and migration.

The voter turnout of Germans with foreign roots tends to be much lower among the overall population ("up to twenty percentage points," Özoguz told DW).

German election campaign placards Christian Democratic Union (CDU) After three terms in office, Chancellor Angela Merkel is no stranger to election posters. With a budget of 20 million euros, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is pinning up some 22,000 placards across Germany. The use of a deconstructed German flag brings out the party's patriotism, while the main focus of slogans is on issues such as security, family and work.

German election campaign placards Social Democrats (SPD) The Social Democrats are keeping it classic with their long-time red, square logo. Posters concentrate on topics such as education, family, pension, investment and wage inequality. At the end of their 24-million-euro campaign, the SPD is planning a final crusade ahead of election day, which still remains under wraps.

German election campaign placards Free Democratic Party (FDP) More than 5 million euros have been spent on the liberal FDP's poster campaign. With their black and white photoshoot, the FDP have gone for thoroughly modern marketing, with one man at the center: Christian Lindner. Voters, however, will have a hard time reading the text heavy posters. "Impatience is also a virtue," reads the slogan.

German election campaign placards The Green Party The Greens have remained faithful to their cause and focused on classic topics such as the environment, integration and peace. "Environment isn't everything. But without the environment, everything is nothing," says the slogan. A mainstay on all of the posters is the party's sunflower logo.

German election campaign placards Alternative for Germany (AfD) The prize for most controversial placards goes, without doubt, to the right-wing AfD. From afar, the poster showing a smiling, pregnant woman seems innocent until the slogan becomes legible: "New Germans? We make them ourselves." In another poster, set against the background image of three bikini-clad women, the AfD asks: "Burkas? We like bikinis."

German election campaign placards The Left Party The Left party have certainly given their best to use as many fonts as possible. In a combination of font and wordplay, this slogan one reads: "[Colorful] People. Decisively against right-wing hate." Affordable rents, fairer pensions and an end to arms exports are the main issues for the leftist party. Author: Kate Brady



'Your president Erdogan'

Just like Özdemir over twenty years ago, German migrants and decendants of migrants who make it into the highest ranks of German politics also often still face racist sentiments and the notion that they are not "truly German."

Iran-born politician Omid Nouripour of the Greens said he regularly received hate mail telling him things like "You sh*t Arab, go back to Turkey." AfD politician Alexander Gauland caused an outrage when he said Hamburg-born Özoguz "should be disposed of in Anatolia."

"I am German and I only have a German citizenship! When will that finally get into you head?!” Özcan Mutlu recently had to tell a fellow Bundestag representative during a debate on dual citizenship, after he referred to the Turkish head of state as "your president Erdogan."