After demonstrations by supporters of Turkey’s president Erdogan against the attempted military coup in Turkey, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, as well as spokespersons of the Conservative Party and one Green Party MP demanded stricter controls or higher penalties to enforce an existing ban against dual citizenship. Austrian law permits dual citizenship in cases where it is in the national interest or where a citizenship of origin cannot be renounced, but requires that other applicants for naturalisation provide evidence that they have lost their previous citizenship. The above-mentioned politicians claim that a significant number of naturalised immigrants of Turkish origin have reacquired their temporarily lost Turkish citizenship without informing the Austrian authorities. If detected, these persons would lose their Austrian citizenship.

Read an op ed commentary by EUDO Citizenship co-director Rainer Bauböck in the Austrian daily Der Standard (in German).

For details of current and past citizenship legislation in Austria, consult our country profile page.