The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis of electoral behavior of Turkish citizens in Germany using the case of the elections to the Turkish parliament in 2018. Starting point are the controversial debates about the different results for the electorate in Turkey and Turkish voters in Germany. With reference to the literature on plurilocal political orientations of transnational migrants, the authors pursue the argument that their electoral behaviour (concerning the country of origin) is significantly determined by origin-specific factors. For decades, the political landscape has been forged by two decisive political cleavages: between secular and religious orientations and Turkish vs. Kurdish ethnic affiliations. On an aggregate level, these cleavages are reflected in persistent regional patterns in the voting behaviour. Therefore, the place of birth (in Turkey) of Turkish immigrants is used as a proxy for the origin-related orientation. The study is based on an initial coding of data from the Central Foreigners Register and related to election data from the Turkish consulates.

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