Turkish nationality law

The Interior Ministry has mandated that foreign nationals must possess a valid legal residence permit in Türkiye to marry Turkish citizens, in an effort to combat fake marriages to obtain permits or Turkish citizenship.

Approximately 7.5 million Turkish citizens reside in foreign countries, with the majority of them, amounting to 6.5 million, living in Western European countries, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has disclosed.

Turkish and Austrian passports in 2017. Photo: EPA/LISI NIESNER

The Bar Association said in a statement that citizenship "expresses a legal and political bond and commitment to the state", and that putting a financial value upon it "has made the concept of citizenship abstract and alienated it from its essence".

Residential property sales in Turkey surged 20.6 percent on an annual basis in March, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on April 15.

A total of 134,170 houses were sold last month, up from 111,241 in March 2021, TÜİK said in its monthly report.

Turkey aims to attract nearly 5,000 tons of under-the-mattress gold into the financial system, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said at a press conference in London on Feb. 8.

Some 22 percent of the real estate purchases by foreign nationals were conducted in order to obtain citizenship, a study has showed.

Foreign nationals, who buy a property worth at least $250,000, can apply for Turkish citizenship.

Turkey on Sept. 8 denied claims that it granted citizenship to 3,000 Afghan nationals in return for payment.

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"The claims that the U.S. made 3,000 Afghans nationals the citizens of the Republic of Turkey in return of a price are absolutely false," the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs said in a statement.

Some 7,312 foreigners have become Turkish citizens over the past three years by investing in property in the country, daily Milliyet has reported.

"Turkey started a citizenship program in 2017. In 2017-2018, any foreigner investing $1 million in Turkey can apply for citizenship. Since Sept. 18, 2018, the limit was lowered to $250,000," the daily reported on Nov. 22.

A 14-day home quarantine was lifted on June 11 for Turkish expats visiting homeland, said a top official of a Turkish state agency.

"During the summer period, we will assist our citizens abroad who are on a journey to homeland," said Abdullah Eren, head of Turkey's Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), in a statement.

Turkey has repatriated its nationals from 107 countries so far amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"The number of countries in which we have evacuated our citizens has reached 107. This number is increasing day after day," Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran said on May 6 in a live broadcast on the Instagram account of
the Ankara-based Turkish Writers' Union.