Explaining the Naturalisation Practices of Turks in Germany in the Wake of the Citizenship Reform of 1999

This paper presents statistical and qualitative data on the response of Turkish immigrants and their descendants living in Germany to the changes in the German citizenship ‘reform’ of 1999. My findings suggest that the effects of the new citizenship and naturalisation regulations on Turkish immigrants were mediated by their generational status and the time period in which they arrived or were raised in Germany.