ABSTRACT

Notwithstanding the fact that the Brussels-Capital region government nowadays has a deputy-minister of Turkish origin, judging from an overall perspective, the Turkish community is in relative terms still underrepresented in the political sphere in Belgium. Data from several Western European cities shows that Turkish immigrants in the European Union tend to have a strong associational life, dense social networks and a strong sense of community. In addition, for Turks living in major Western European cities like Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels, a pattern emerges showing that those people who are active in local Turkish associational life tend to be also involved in cross-ethnic associations of the host society. Nevertheless, while it is often claimed that a strong associational life has a spillover effect into increased political trust and political involvement in Amsterdam, this seems to be less the case in the Belgian Brussels-Capital region.