German or Not?

For an estimated 3,300 young Germans of immigrant backgrounds, the new year brings a tough choice -- should they keep the citizenship of the country they were born in or that of their parents' home country?

These are youth who turn 18 this year and made use of reformed citizenship laws in 2000 to become naturalized Germans.

So far, they were allowed to have dual citizenship. But this year, they can expect to receive a letter from authorities on their birthdays urging them to choose one or the other passport. If they fail to do that, they automatically lose their German passports when they turn 23.

Being forced to choose between nationalities could mean a conflict of identity and loyalties for these youth, said Kenan Kolat, chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany. Turks make up the largest group of immigrants in Germany, with an estimated 2.3 million of them resident in the country.

"Most aren't really aware of the problem. But that will change in the next months," Kolat told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau. "The government could send a signal and win over these young people by doing away with the forced choice," he said.

Controversial compromise

The seemingly bewildering situation dates back to a radical overhaul of citizenship laws in 2000 by the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The ruling coalition made up of the Social Democrats and Greens liberalized Germany's restrictive citizenship laws, which had previously only recognized the principle of nationality by blood. For instance, an ethnic German from Kazakhstan who had never lived in Germany could claim citizenship, but a Turk born and raised in Germany who spoke only German could not.

The reform now allows foreigners who have lived in Germany for eight years to apply for naturalization.

But the original plan to allow their children born in Germany to automatically become German failed in the face of fierce opposition by conservative parties who controlled the upper house of parliament.

As a compromise, it was decided that naturalized children would have to decide at the age of 18 whether they wanted to keep their German passport or their foreign one.

Law outdated, say experts

The law has sparked debate among German politicians and immigration experts, many of whom argue that the legislation is outdated and counterproductive.

"We have to soon consider whether what we decided eight years ago wasn't completely wrong," said Dieter Wiefelspütz, domestic policy expert of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), adding that it was time to scratch the law.

Uwe Berlitt, a federal judge, told the Frankfurter Rundschau that the citizenship law could run counter to ongoing efforts to better integrate foreigners and immigrants.

Those who have their German citizenship taken away will continue to live in Germany, Berlitt pointed out. The difference would be that they would be treated as second-class citizens. He urged politicians to have a pragmatic, non-ideological debate about dual citizenship.

Rainer Hofmann, a legal expert in Frankfurt, pointed out that a long-running goal of German politics to prevent dual nationality wherever possible was outdated.

Dual nationality is a "Europe-wide trend," Hofmann said during a debate on the issue in parliament in December. It corresponds to the situation of those affected "who often have strong emotional, personal, legal and social links to both countries."

In August, the German interior ministry confirmed that people applying for German citizenship no longer have to give up their old passports if they come from an EU member state or from Switzerland. Few new Germans, however, are unlikely to be affected by those changes, since most don't come from EU countries.

Conservatives unlikely to scratch the law

While some fear the citizenship law will prove to be a bureaucratic nightmare -- an estimated 300,000 young Germans of immigrant extraction are to be affected by it in the next few years -- there seems little chance of a political majority emerging against it in the near future.

Wolfgang Bosbach, head of the parliamentary group of Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said he was in favor of going back to the pre-2000 German citizenship law based on blood.

Meanwhile, another senior CDU politician currently stands accused of stirring up hostility against foreigners in a bid to win a crucial regional election. Roland Koch, the premier of the state of Hesse, won the regional elections there in 1999 after launching a controversial signature campaign against the then planned dual-citizenship law.

For now, Kolat of the Turkish Community recommended that those affected by the law bide their time and wait with their decision as long as possible.

"You should try to keep both the German and Turkish passport," Kolat told the daily Die Tageszeitung (taz). "We'll see if there's a legal process that then changes things."