Scholz urges Turkish-German voters to back SPD, defends dual citizenship law

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday urged Turkish-German voters to back his Social Democratic Party (SPD) in upcoming snap elections, pledging continued support for immigrants’ rights.

“Germany is a country of immigration — one in four people here has an immigration background,” Scholz said in a video message shared on social media.

“Those who live and work here, who are well-integrated and speak our language, belong to our country and should have a voice in our democracy,” he stated.

Scholz slams suggestion to overturn citizenship law

Scholz criticized his rival Friedrich Merz, the chancellor candidate for the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), for vowing to overturn Germany’s new citizenship law and revoke dual citizenship.

“This threatens to take us backward,” Scholz said. “We must not allow divisions between long-time residents and newcomers. Unity is the way forward.”

Germany’s new citizenship law, implemented in June 2024, simplifies the naturalization process for immigrants and allows dual citizenship, a significant change for the country’s Turkish community. Previously, immigrants were required to renounce their original citizenship to become German.

Germany is home to about 3.5 million Turkish immigrants, many of whom are descendants of workers who arrived in the 1960s under a bilateral labor agreement. Nearly half of them hold German citizenship, with the majority traditionally supporting the Social Democrats or the Greens, according to surveys.