Turkish Community in Germany Call for Dual Citizenship Protection

Activists for the Turkish community in Germany are calling for the dual citizenship right to be protected ahead of national elections this Sunday, following a campaign marked by heated debates against migration.

  Gökay Sofuoğlu from the Turkish Community Germany (TGD) organization said on Wednesday that the tone of the discussion, which "exclusively declares migration to be a problem," has caused great concern to the country's immigrant population. While Sofuoğlu does not believe that politicians are intent on "fueling racist violence or spreading fear among people from a migrant background," he nonetheless argued that "this is precisely the effect of their current actions." Migration has been at the forefront of the election campaign amid a spate of attacks attributed to foreign nationals, some of whom were due to be deported. The incidents have also led to some calls for the next government to overturn a new law allowing dual nationality for non-EU citizens, a key demand for Germany's large community of first and second-generation Turkish people. A TGD survey found that more than 80% of election candidates from the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats – whose three-way coalition passed the law before collapsing in late 2024 – support retaining dual nationality. However, only 33% of candidates from the conservative alliance of Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) who responded to the survey said they backed the measure, with 48% against it. The CDU/CSU bloc is the clear favorite to lead Germany's next government after Sunday's election.       hurriyetdailynews.com