Contemporary Trends in Berlin’s Turkish Economy

ABSTRACT
The contribution analyses the connections between multiculturality, unemployment and self-employment on the case of Berlin and its Turkish ethnic economy. Five attributes characterise the Turkish work sphere: heterogeneity, hybridity, professionalism, internationalisation, and interest of the state. The consequences of those attributes are partly contradictory. On the one hand they stress the significance of the concept of the Turkish economy. On the other hand, until recently not known respect, appreciation and popularity of the Turkish ethnic economy reveal. The mentioned contrast is being understood as a new proof of the significance of multiculturalism in Germany and the relation of Germans towards immigrants. The acknowledgement of their presence in the society lead to a high growth of self-employment, which is one of the solutions for non-employment, and a path to integration. The consequence is the economic dimension of multiculturalism, thus ideology, which contains ethnic pluralism as a positive element. A critical analysis of that ideology is given in the conclusion.