The discussion at the Bundestag yesterday revolved around a new citizenship law aimed at streamlining the path to German citizenship for foreign residents. However, the law faced opposition, prompting additional conditions and limitations to be added to the draft.

Several immigrant non-governmental organizations, including the German Turkish Community (TGD) and the Berlin-Brandenburg Turkish Community (TBB), gathered outside the parliament to protest against the law’s amendments, which introduced new requirements due to strong opposition reactions.

The “Pass(t) uns allen” initiative, spearheading the demonstration, calls for the removal of barriers to obtaining German citizenship in the ‘Modern Citizenship Law’. They highlighted concerns that the new prerequisites would intensify hurdles in the path to citizenship.

Safter Çınar, spokesperson for TBB, strongly criticized the revised draft law, particularly condemning the linkage of citizenship to conditions such as income sufficiency and absence of social assistance as discriminatory measures limiting naturalization.