The Turkish consulates across Germany have been filling up with Turks looking to naturalize under the EU member state’s long-awaited dual citizenship law that took effect last summer.
The naturalization law allows the applicants to retain their native citizenship and obtain German citizenship. People can apply for citizenship after living in Germany for five years, instead of the previous requirement of eight years, provided they meet all conditions.
The law took effect on June 26, 2024, after much debate and marked a turning point for many migrants in Germany, including around 2 million Turks and their children.
Germany is home to the world’s biggest Turkish community overseas, with more than 3.5 million people. Most of them are descendants of “guest workers” invited to rebuild postwar Germany.
The law contains carve-outs to encourage the “guest worker” generation. Written tests and other conditions for citizenship, namely a formal language or citizenship test, are not valid for them.
Children born in Germany to parents from abroad are also granted German citizenship if one parent has been a legal resident in Germany for five years rather than eight.
If applicants demonstrate “special integration achievements” through particularly good performance at school or work or civic engagement, they may be able to be naturalized after only three years.
An important aspect of the law is that people who obtain German citizenship will not have to give up their citizenship in their native country, which was previously only possible for residents of other EU countries in Germany.
Likewise, Germans who wish to become citizens of another country no longer need special authorization from the German authorities. Previously, without authorization, they would have lost their German citizenship if they acquired another one.
The law also removes the option model that previously forced a person to choose between German citizenship and the citizenship of their parent until the age of 23.
Soaring demand
The Turkish Consulate in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe is working at full capacity to meet the soaring demand from citizens, Consul-General Mahmut Niyazi Sezgin told the Turkish newspaper Sabah.
“Turkish community here has been waiting for the dual citizenship law for so long,” Sezgin said. “We have eased the process and now our citizens can regain their Turkish citizenship on average three to four months.”
The consul-general suggested Turks who have not gained German citizenship yet do so as soon as possible.
“Being a citizen is the most important condition for partaking in social and political processes,” Sezgin added.
Meanwhile, Turks born in Germany and recently granted Turkish citizenship are elated.
“I applied as soon as the law passed and I received my identity card and passport in six months,” Şentürk Bayındır said. “It was unfair that this right wasn’t given to us Turks who had made the biggest contribution to this country for decades.”
“I became a German citizen in 2022 but I felt the pain of leaving Turkish citizenship,” Mehmet Öztürk said. “Now I’m happy to be a Turkish citizen again. The Turkish passport and the star and the crescent moon were always in our hearts,” he said, referring to the Turkish flag.
Far-right pressure
Germany is, however, amid a conservative crackdown on migration backed by the far right ahead of elections on Feb. 23.
Some 7.1 million citizens in Germany with a migrant background are eligible to vote, according to research platform Mediendienst Integration, amounting to 12% of the population.
Many in this group are watching closely to see what parties have to offer as a national debate around migration reaches boiling point.
On Wednesday, there was uproar in parliament as a non-binding motion tabled by the conservative opposition to toughen border controls was passed in the lower house – but only thanks to votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD). This unprecedented outcome broke a long-standing taboo in German politics.
One major spark for the renewed focus on migration was the fall of Syria’s long-time ruler, Bashar Assad, in December. The dramatic events prompted immediate suggestions from right-wing politicians in Germany that Syrian refugees should now return home.
The debate has polarized further following an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg and a deadly stabbing last week for which a failed Afghan asylum-seeker has been detained.
According to a new study, 20.1% of voters with migrant backgrounds – defined as those who migrated to Germany or who have at least one parent born without German citizenship – would consider voting for the AfD, compared to 76% for the governing center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
But it’s far from a binary choice, especially in Germany’s increasingly fractured political landscape.
The study by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) shows, for example, that willingness to support the upstart Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – which also explicitly calls for a curb on migration but abstained in Wednesday’s vote – was much higher among those with a family history of migration from Türkiye or the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, at 55.5%.
Here, the Gaza war is a key factor.
Yunus Ulusoy, an integration expert from the University of Duisburg-Essen, points out that people with a Muslim background from the MENA region are “affected differently” by the Gaza war. They do not strongly relate to the overarching sense of responsibility for Israel rooted in the Holocaust, which dominates public debate in Germany.
The dual citizenship law also requires applicants to declare the state of Israel’s “right to exist and Jewish life in Germany” as a response to a recent surge in anti-Semitism in the country.
Parts of the citizenship test include questions on Germany’s historic responsibility toward Jewish people as a result of the crimes of Nazi Germany and when the state of Israel was founded.
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