The Turkish Foreign Minister has criticized a new German immigration law

Spiegel Online:

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül has criticized a new German immigration law which requires spouses to have a certain level of German before they are allowed into the country. He also emphasized that Turkish entry into the EU is not automatic and that Europe shouldn't fear Turkey.

Turkey has criticized a German draft immigration law which stipulates that if spouses wish to join their partners in Germany they have to possess a basic proficiency in the German language.

In an interview in Thursday's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper the Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gül, said "I wish that all Turks in Germany could speak German. But making it compulsory is against human rights. And it doesn't solve the problem."

The German cabinet approved the new immigration bill in March, but it still has to be approved by the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. Among other measures, the law stipulates that in the case of immigrating spouses, the person coming to Germany must be at least 18 years old and be able to speak at least basic German. The government says it wants to improve the integration of foreigners, while also attempting to reduce the number of forced and fake marriages.

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