People & Politics | Youth at a Crossroads
  • 15 years ago
The first groups of Turkish-Germans and other young people with dual citizenship are now being forced to choose one country over the other. Their need to choose is the result of a reform to citizenship rules implemented a number of years ago by the German government. Children born after 1990 to EU immigrants in Germany are granted German citizenship in addition to that of their parents. But between the age of 18 and 23,the children of parents who are non-EU members choose one or the other. In so doing,they must opt to officially become a German or a foreigner. We follow two 19-year-olds. Esra Ünal,a student from Berlin,has decided on German citizenship and has even been congratulated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her choice. Erdi Yurtsever,a high school graduate from Nuremberg,would rather not settle on one or the other - he'd like to retain dual citizenship. If the rules are not changed in the coming years,he plans to put his case before the German constitutional court.