Austria: Supreme Court deprives Turkish man of citizenship after he registered to vote in home country

Austria’s Supreme Court has ruled that a Turkish man, who is anonymous, gave up his right to Austrian nationality when he registered to vote in Turkey, setting a precedent for 20,000 naturalised Turks to be deprived of Austrian citizenship.

The right-wing Freedom Party, which is in control of the interior and foreign ministries in the coalition government, last year gave security services the names of 100,000 people on the Turkish electoral roll.

Under Austria’s citizenship law, dual citizenship is only permitted for people born in Austria.

The party has claimed that the authorities have been ignoring the practice of foreigners becoming naturalised in order to gain a European passport before returning to their country of birth.

Party leader Johann Gudenus said: “Now there is nothing more standing in the way of the consequences.”

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