Berlin - Illiterate foreigners are not eligible for German citizenship, according to a German court ruling disclosed Thursday. The verdict came in the case of a Turkish citizen who has been resident in Germany for 20 years. The man, born in 1970, was granted asylum by the German state in 1993. He can't read or write.
The higher administrative court in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg ruled that it was not enough to speak the language, and said knowledge of written German was a prerequisite for citizenship.
In order to integrate socially and politically, the court argued, it is necessary to be able to follow the media and communicate with Germans.
The case can still be reconsidered by the federal administrative court, on whose related 2005 ruling the judgement was based.
