Various news outlets reported it, but each giving some small piece of the overall story. So I'll try to lay it out in simple 'chat'.
Over the weekend, the coalition under Chancellor Merkel (the CDU-CSU Parties, and the SPD folks) agreed to one single government policy on handling ISIS 'warriors' who went off to the Syria-Iraq civil war, and who happen to be German citizens.
Some of those Germans will be striped of their German citizenship.....IF they actually did leave the country, and fight in the war.
How many fall into this category? Well....everyone has a different estimate. Some government folks suggest that it's around 800 to 1,000. Some suggest (but no factual evidence) that it gets up near 1,500 people. Some want to count men only, and not the women who went to be 'warrior-bridges'. The Merkel crowd usually says 1,000 as a nice round number but it's just something for the press.
But the number is a bit 'fluid'. Some people will say that a third of the estimated 1,000.....have already returned to Germany. Originally (going back to 2014/2015), there was a German law put into effect that once you left.....you couldn't come back. Then it became clear that a number of the young men realized that this war and the jihad 'gimmick' was crazy, and they begged to be accepted back. The deal made at that time.....you come back and face some charges, and go into a deprogramming type situation, and ensure the authorities that you aren't a risk.
The other belief is that another third of those who went to the war....are dead or missing. Truthfully, you can't substantiate that as a fact.
So what is left, at least in this unreliable game....is the final third. In this case, they are believed to be detained by Syrian, Iraqi, and Kurd authorities.
So the Merkel group sat down and wrote up three requirements to be stripped of citizenship (German).
First, they have to be adults. The Germans suggest that taking citizenship away from a juvenile isn't fair.
Second, you have to be holding two citizenships (remember, Germany authorized this back three years ago....that you could retain your old citizenship). This little rule from that period could come back to bite you now. In this case, once they strip you of the German citizenship.....you can return to the original country.
Third and final, you'd be stripped if you continued to fight in the war, after this new rule is stamped official. The Germans want their participation in the war....ended, period....no exception.
The end of this discussion? Not really. There's still some chatter from the Linke Party and Greens, that stripping citizenship is unfair.
A bigger and long term mess in the making? Well...eventually, I think the last 300 to 400 Germans in the ISIS war....will come back, and present both PTSD issues, and emotional problems requiring inpatient treatment. Ten to twenty years from now....this will still be a public issue in some fashion.
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