Germany's new nationality law good for some Turks
The fuss over the first babies born in the year 2000 had a particular relevance for Turks living in Germany. As of 00.01 hours on January 1, most babies born in Germany of Turkish parents have automatic citizenship under new legislation passed last year.
The new law grants automatic dual nationality to all children born in Germany provided that one of their parents has been living in Germany for at least eight years. The children will then have have until the age of 23 to decide which nationality to keep ( German or that of their parents.
Until now, Germany maintained some of the strictest nationality laws in the world. Even though some 7 million Turks live and work there, many of them born and brought up there, Germany's nationality law, based on an imperial edict of 1913, gave precedence to Teutonic ancestry over birth. The result was that millions of young Turks in Germany had limited rights of work, residence and social welfare, while millions of whites all over Europe had an automatic right to German citizenship.
This unfair system has resulted in numerous injustices over the years. In one particularly notorious case some years ago, a German-born Turkish teenager was deported from Germany to Turkey, a country he had never even visited, and whose language he did not speak, after being convicted of petty crimes.
Birthright apart, the new law reduces the period immigrants need to live in Germany to qualify for citizenship from 15 to 8 years. Some 7 million Turks and other immigrants are expected to qualify for citizenship this year as a result of these two changes.
However, it still does not address some problems. One is that the immigrants are still not permitted to maintain dual nationality. The result is that many older Turks in particular, who still retain close links to Turkey, are reluctant to apply for German citizenship. Under the old law, their children would also have remained Turkish. Now, however, the children will be German provided their parents qualify for citizenship, even if they do not take it up.
Germany has long had a major problem with racism, which the new laws are unlikely to change in the short term. Turkish Germans, and particularly those who insist on practising their Islam, will continue to suffer discrimination regardless the colour of the passport in their pocket.
Muslimedia: January 16-31, 2000