Turkish Lawyers Urge Cancellation of ‘Cash-for-Citizenship’ Scheme

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".

The Turkish government's citizenship scheme was amended by a decree issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that became effective on Monday.

But the Bar Association argued that such changes cannot be made by presidential decrees and that the existing Turkish Citizenship Law has no articles that mention obtaining citizenship by financial means.

It said this means that the regulations are "unconstitutional and devoid of any legal basis"

Since 2018, Turkey has allowed foreign citizens to obtain Turkish citizenship via investment and real estate purchases.

According to the latest figures published by the Turkish Ministry for Environment and Urbanisation published in October last year, 19,630 foreigners have obtained citizenship via real estate purchases.

The Turkish government's citizenship scheme was also criticised by opposition parties and lawyers who claimed that it is trying to obtain foreign currency by selling passports amid the country's deepening economic crisis.

Due to the Turkish lira's significant loss in value against foreign currencies, Turkish property has become much cheaper for foreigners and government incentives have boosted sales to foreigners.

According to TurkStat, in 2021, 58,000 residential properties were sold to foreigners - 43.5 per cent more than the previous year.

Due to the high number of sales and the economic crisis, the government increased the minimum amount for...