New amendments to Turkish Citizenship laws through real estate ownership

Some amendments have been made to the Turkish citizenship laws through real estate ownership, by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Real Estate Survey, following these important details that attract the attention of investors, through our Gars Consulting website.

Updating the Turkish citizenship law by buying real estate in Turkey

The General Directorate of Land Registry and Land Survey issued some important amendments to the executive regulations for implementing the Turkish citizenship law through real estate ownership.

It should be noted that these amendments to the Turkish citizenship laws related to the status of the property being purchased or the conclusion of a purchase contract, with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship.

These amendments have been published in the guide related to the regulation mentioned in Article G, which is titled “Transactions between foreigners.” The most important of the amended clauses in this Article are as follows.

Changes in the Turkish citizenship law in return for buying a property

• Not registering the real estate or real estate for sale or for concluding a deferred sale contract in the name of a real foreign person in the Land Registry Directorate. (including the foreigner's wife and children).
• Not to transfer the ownership of real estate or real estate for sale or for the conclusion of a deferred sale contract by the wife or children of the foreign person wishing to buy it, for the purpose of obtaining Turkish citizenship, or by the foreign citizen himself, or by a foreign citizen holding his nationality, to a Turkish citizen/ Turkish company - after 12/07/2017.

But it is possible to own the property with the specifications mentioned in this article, with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship, if the foreign citizen who sold the property to the Turkish citizen/ Turkish company after 12-07-2017 is a citizen of a nationality other than the nationality of the citizen wishing to purchase in order to obtain Turkish citizenship.

• Not to register the property or real estate that is for sale or for the conclusion of a deferred sale contract in the name of a legal person such as companies, where the foreign person wishing to purchase the property to obtain Turkish citizenship, or his wife or children, are partners or managers in it.

Not to register it also in the name of a legal person for a company (foreign / with international capital) in which one of the partners is of the same nationality as the foreign citizen, who wants to buy the property to obtain Turkish citizenship.

• In the event that any property or any real estate share was previously owned with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship, it cannot be owned again, for the same purpose.
• When the real foreign person, who holds Turkish citizenship, resells the property to the company or person from whom it was purchased, the property order is referred to the General Directorate of Land Registry and Land Survey, and the matching document, which forms the basis for obtaining citizenship, is also re-evaluated. Turkish in exchange for real estate ownership, with the exception of resale pursuant to an executive procedure or a judicial decision.

Such amendments, which were approved and published on 03.22.2021, included, in addition to the phrase a pledge not to sell for three years, related to the declaration of a foreigner wishing to purchase a property in order to obtain Turkish citizenship, the possibility of annulment of the decision to obtain citizenship in exchange for buying a property, in the event of fraud or providing false or deceptive information.

We will provide you with the text of the new pledge as stated in the guide to implementing the regulation as follows:

“I pledge not to sell this property(ies) that I own, with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship, in accordance with Article 20 of the Executive Regulations”, related to the implementation of the Turkish Nationality Law for a period of three years, knowing that the decision to grant citizenship will be rescinded by the relevant government agencies, under Article 31 of the Turkish Nationality Law, No. 5901, in the event that any false or deceptive papers or information were proven to be submitted during transactions related to obtaining citizenship in exchange for buying a property.

Edited by Gars Consulting Company

Reference: General Directorate of Land Registry and Land Survey

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