Germany: Turkish citizenship considered
01 January 1991
Germany: Turkish citizenship considered
artdoc May=1994
Turkey's Prime Minister, Tansu Ciller, on a state visit to
Germany, has made a joint announcement with Chancellor Kohl
concerning cooperation on the `social integration of Germany's
1.8 million strong Turkish community'.
A panel of experts is being chosen to look at `all legal and
constitutional questions...including questions of status,
citizenship rights and internal security'. The group will also,
under the instigation of the Turkish Prime Minister, look into
the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party which it estimates
has 400,000 supporters in Germany.
Kurdish organisations mounted protests during Ciller's visit
(Guardian 21.9.93, 6.10.93).
How non-citizenship affected Nulifer Koc
Campaigners in Germany say that only international pressure
forced the German Embassy in Ankara to act on behalf of Nulifer
Koc, a 24-year-old spokesperson and former chair of the student's
union of the University of Bremen who disappeared after being
arrested by the Turkish police during a fact-finding tour of the
Kurdish regions of Turkey. Nulifer Koc has lived in Germany since
she was four years old but the German officials originally
disclaimed responsibility for her on the grounds that did not
have German citizenship.
On 29 September, a group from Oldenburg who were visiting Turkey
to observe human rights there were stopped by the security police
and arrested. Nulifer Koc, who was the group's translator, was
separated from them and taken to the military police post in
Sirnak.
Nulifer Koc has since been released and returned to Germany
(Letter of AStA Uni Bremen).
Deportation plan for refugees from former Yugoslavia
In August, Berlin's ruling Christian Democrats issued a decree
that stated that only war refugees from Bosnia will continue to
have an automatic right to stay in the city. Serbs, Croats and
refugees from other parts of the former Yugoslavia will be
individually assessed and deported if their return is considered
`safe'.
The Green Party has called for the rescinding of the decree
(Guardian 17.8.93).
Airport police by-pass asylum laws
According to the Hamburg-based Working Group on Asylum, the
Federal Border police at the airport are preventing refugees from
entering the country and applying for political asylum. In July,
for instance, 16 refugees from Afghanistan were prevented from
leaving the plane at Hamburg airport, and immediately sent to
Iran (Frankfurter Rundschau 7.8.93).
Indian asylum-seeker attempts suicide
A 29-year-old asylum-seeker from India attempted to commit
suicide when his asylum application was refused. The asylum-
seeker, who made his application on August 7, was being kept at
a refugee holding-centre at the Rhein-Main airport (Frankfurter
Rundschau 28.8.93).
Hunger-strike in Bremen
In Bremen, thirty refugees went on hunger-strike to protest
against their removal to a ship, which is anchored in the harbour
and has places for 400 asylum-seekers (Frankfurter Rundschau
11.8.93).
Refugee shot in police station
A 24-year-old refugee from Romania was shot and seriously injured
by an officer from the German Federal Border police in a police
station in Waidhaus, near the German/Czech border. The incident
seems to have happened when the refugee refused to show his
identity papers to the police (Die Tageszeitung 23.9.93).
IRR European Race Audit, Bulletin no 6, December 1993. Contact:
Liz Fekete, Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London
WC1X 9HS. Tel: 071 837 0041.