Turkish Citizenship
With the new foreign investor programme, the Republic of Turkey grants citizenship to foreigners who make 400,000 $ property investment in Turkey or found/buy a company with 500,000 $ capital, or deposit 500,000 $ in State investment instruments or state banks operating in Turkey provided that they do not withdraw such amount for three years.

05.05.2017 A regulation regarding the Turkish Citizenship Law was added to Article 20, which regulates the conditions for the exceptional acquisition of Turkish citizenship. According to this, a share of real estate investment fund participation of at least 1.5 million dollars or foreign investors who hold a venture capital investment fund share and keep it for three years will be entitled to Turkish citizenship.

As informed in (b) Regulation  (a) Article 20 of the Regulation with  the amendment of the Article 2 «b» which regulates the condition for the exceptional acquisiton of Turkish citizenship  and referred as « it is possible to obtain Turkish citizenship on exceptional basis for foreign nationality who  purchased the immovable property with a minimum amount of 400,000 $ having land registry record which are determined by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanism  on the condition that it is not going to be sold for three years».

Within this scope;

  1. In order to benefit from this arrangement and determine the amount which is indicated in the application for the slae of the immovable property, there should be prepared an immovable valuation report  which should be accepted by the Capital Market Board  in accordance with valuation standards by valuation expert who has a valid license .
  2. Based on the value in the immovable valuation report that shows the market value, the value of immovable/immovables in US dollars is calculated on the effective selling rate of the Central Bank of Turkey at the date of transcation.
  3. The amendments of the Regulation dated 12.01.2017 and the effective date of this instruciton, in case if more than one immovable is acquired by the same person, the sum of which corresponds to a price stated in the relevant article or above, the value calculated in accordance with the effective sales price of each immovable on the sale date shall be taken as basis.
  4. The foreign real person who has bought the real estate should be arranged and declared;

Within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law states that this immovable / immovables property will not be sold for a period of 3 years for purpose of acquisiton of Turkish citizenship; Within the scope of the 20th Article of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law”  is stated that within 3 years is declared that it will not be sold for 3 years from the date of acquisition”. “Within the 20th Article of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law, there is a commitment not to be sold within three years from the date of acquisition”.

  1. From now on, the immovable property which will be purchase for purpose of obtaining Turkish citizenship should commit that tyhe property will not be sold for 3 years. However, the immovable property which was purchased between the Regulation on implementation dated 12.01.2017 and the date of entry into force of this directive without declaration of not selling the property should declare and undertake  that in accordance with article 20 of the regulation on the implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law there is a declaration that the immovable property will not be sold within three years from the date of acquisition.
  2. With the condition to have the same date and the same journal number, If more than one immovable is requested for the same person with a value equal or exceeding stated in the related article, the statement of each immovable shall be made within the scope of “Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law There is a commitment not to be sold within three years from the date of acquisition”. Point (b) The condition that the amendment of the regulation taken on the date of 12.01.2017 and for the immovable/immovables acquired in the date interval in which this directive entered into force shall not be required to be purchased with the same journal number.
  3. According to the decision taken with the regulation the said statement with the requirement the abandonment following the three years stated within the law, If the applicant’ cancellation requested by the applicant within 3 years from the date of the entry of the declaration, the MERNIS registry shall be checked to see if the applicant has obtained Turkish citizenship. by;
  • If the owner is registered as a Turkish citizen in the system, the citizenship will be revoked until the end of three years’
  • In case of not being registered, the question of whether to abandon the commentary from the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs should be questioned and directed to the procedures to be taken.
  1. Foreclosure, measure etc. on immovables acquired in this way is possible by establishing annals with the same limited rights and in case that the property’s owner change within the three year period without the agreement of the owner the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship shall be informed urgently.
  2. The evaluation reports which will be submitted within the scope of this instruction shall belong to the same year and the application and operation made at the end of the year or the applications which have not been finished in the same year the reports submitted will be reevaluated according to the reevaluation ratio determined by the Ministry of Finances.
  3. If the amount of the immovable valuation report based on the sales transactions under this instruction is lower than the value of the real estate tax determined for the municipal acquisition year according to the provisions of the Real Estate Tax Law No. 1319, the title fee shall be collected on this value.
  4. The title deed registration is given to the applicant following the completion of the procedure.