The minor partner in the coalition government, the ultra-rightwing Austrian Freedom Party’s (FPO) leader and Deputy Prime Minister Heinz-Christian Strache announced that they want to suspend the right of Turkish citizens to switch to Austrian citizenship.

Strache’s statement came after the Constitutional Court ruled that the program to research the individuals who unlawfully didn’t leave their Turkish citizenship after gaining Austrian citizenship is itself illegal.

Strache said the reason for this decision is that Ankara refuses to cooperate to investigate dual citizenships in Austria where over 270.000 people from Turkey reside.

Austria doesn’t recognize dual citizenship as a right for people from Turkey. There have been discussions on whether the 100.000 people had actually left Turkish citizenship after it came to light that they voted in Turkish elections in recent years.

The FPO implemented a large scale program to investigate whether the people from Turkey switching to Austrian citizenship were still holding on to their Turkish citizenship. Over 100.000 were scrutinized in this context. The Constitutional Court deemed this program illegal.