Half a million naturalized foreigners, mainly Syrians, risk losing their Turkish citizenship

Abdallah Bozkurt/Stockholm

In a complaint filed with the Council of State, Turkey's highest administrative court, a far-right nationalist party called for the revocation of Turkish citizenship for around half a million foreigners, mainly Syrians, naturalized in Turkey.

According to the petition filed on October 1 by the nationalist Yi (Good) Party with the 10th Chamber of the State Council, a copy of which was obtained by Nordic Monitor, millions of Syrians and other foreigners living in Turkey under various These statutes pose a risk to national security, undermine the social and cultural fabric of Turkish society and, ultimately, threaten the very existence of the Turkish nation.

The Yi Party is represented in the Turkish Parliament with 30 MPs and won 10% of the national vote in the 2023 elections. Its views on immigration are shared by several other political parties, including the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally far-right movement of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The party's lawyers presented several legal arguments to support their claims, including citing a nearly century-old law. They argued that granting citizenship to Syrians is explicitly contrary to Law No. 1062, passed in May 1927, just a few years after the creation of modern Turkey following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

The law was initially passed by the Turkish Parliament on May 28, 1927, as part of reciprocal measures against French and British authorities in former Ottoman territories where Turks' properties were being seized. At the time, Syria, which was under French rule, was of particular concern to Turkey due to disputes over territorial claims, particularly regarding the province of Alexandretta (now Hatay), which later became part of Turkey .

The lawsuit claimed: “Due to historical issues between Turkey and Syria, there are legal restrictions that make it legally impossible for Syrian nationals to acquire property and therefore obtain citizenship. »

The text of a legal petition asking the court to revoke citizenship granted to foreigners in Türkiye:

IYI_party_peition_turkish_citizenship

The dispute between Turkey and Syria over properties and territories remains unresolved, prompting the Turkish government to adopt a cabinet decision in 1966 authorizing the Treasury to confiscate all assets and properties belonging to private and legal entities of Syrian nationality in Turkey. This decision was justified on the basis of the 1927 law.

At the same time, the cabinet decision banned Syrian nationals from acquiring new real estate. According to the lawsuit, the law and the cabinet's decision still stand today; therefore, any Syrian national who acquired Turkish citizenship through a real estate investment program must have their citizenship revoked.

In 2017, President Erdogan's government launched a campaign to encourage the sale of houses to foreigners to meet foreign exchange needs and boost the real estate market. A one-year residence permit was granted to foreigners who bought a house in Türkiye, regardless of the price. Turkish citizenship was promised to foreigners who purchased real estate valued at $1 million. In 2019, this limit was reduced to $250,000 and increased to $500,000 in 2022.

Although the lawsuit specifically targets Syrians due to this nearly century-old law, it also targets all foreigners who became Turkish citizens through real estate investment programs. An estimated 500,000 foreigners have acquired Turkish citizenship over the past seven years, based on property purchase figures. Besides Syrians, data indicates that Russians, Iranians and Afghans also account for a significant number of foreigners who obtained Turkish citizenship in recent years.

The lawsuit claimed that changes to regulations introducing a real estate investment program as a path to Turkish citizenship violated not only the Turkish Constitution but also laws governing the status of foreigners in Turkey.

There are basically two paths to Turkish citizenship for foreigners in Türkiye. The traditional route requires a foreigner to maintain five years of continuous residency, meet income requirements and prove language proficiency. In addition, the foreigner must not pose a threat to national security, public order or health.

This exceptional course, approved by the Turkish President, allows foreigners with exceptional achievements in various fields such as sports, science and technology as well as immigrants or people whose naturalization is deemed necessary by the President to acquire Turkish citizenship.

The lawsuit challenges the two pathways for foreigners who obtained Turkish citizenship through real estate investment or who maintained long-term residency as refugees in Turkey. He claims that the purchase of real estate worth half a million dollars cannot be considered a real investment contributing to the Turkish economy. Furthermore, he claims that refugees, such as Syrians, Afghans and others, only have temporary status and do not have the right to apply for citizenship.

The trial mainly concerns 238,768 Syrian nationals who benefited from temporary protection status before acquiring Turkish nationality. According to official figures, 134,624 are adults and 104,144 are children. The Erdogan government has significantly reduced the number of Syrians granted citizenship since last year, with only 183 Syrians naturalized.

In total, Turkey currently hosts 4,425,230 foreigners with legal right of residence. This figure includes 3,099,524 Syrians under temporary protection, 221,353 foreigners under international protection and 1,104,353 foreigners with residence permits.

There have been allegations that the government is downplaying these figures for fear of public backlash, with reports suggesting the real number is much higher than 13 million, including 7 million Syrians.

The lawsuit says that whatever figures are taken into account, such a large number of foreigners in Turkey would cause economic, social and cultural disruption in the country, undermine public order and security, inflict damage irreversible to the demographic structure and, ultimately, would pose a national problem. security and existential threat.

The text of a legal petition from the Bar Union asks the court to revoke the citizenship route granted through real estate investment in Türkiye:

TBB_Peitition

A similar challenge to government regulations on pathways to citizenship through investment in real estate was filed by the Union of Bars (Trkiye Barolar Birlii, TBB) in June 2022. They asked the Council to State to revoke the presidential decree and relevant regulations allowing foreigners to acquire Turkish citizenship by purchasing properties. The case is still pending.

Given that the Turkish justice system is entirely dependent on the Erdogan government, the likelihood of successful cases before the Council of State is directly linked to the government's stance, which appears increasingly restrictive on granting Turkish citizenship. to foreigners.

Immigration has long been one of the main political issues during election campaigns, and the Erdogan government is forced to take into account growing anti-immigration sentiment in Turkey while implementing restrictive policies.

According to credible reports, many Syrians have been forced to return to their home countries, often under duress, although the government claims that 625,000 Syrians had returned voluntarily as of February 2024. The government has set a goal of reach 1 million voluntary returns by an unspecified date.

The Erdogan government is also seeking to normalize relations with Syria with the aim of repatriating millions of Syrians living in Türkiye under temporary status. However, so far, Ankara's overtures have not received a response from Damascus, which demands as a precondition the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Syria.

President Erdogan has repeatedly stated that he is ready to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but so far no positive response has been received from the Syrian government regarding such a meeting.