Turkish citizenship

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Turkish passport states whether the passport holder has Turkish citizenship.

The citizenship of Turkey is the legal bond of a natural person to Turkey . The principles for acquiring and losing Turkish citizenship were regulated in the Nationality Act ( Turkish: Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu ; Turkish StAG) of November 2, 1964, which was replaced by a new one in 2009. Turkish citizenship law follows the ius sanguinis (principle of descent), according to which citizenship is inherited from the father or mother.

Historical

In the Ottoman Empire , citizenship ( tâbiiyet ) was linked to Islam . Anyone who was not a Muslim could not be a citizen. It follows from the Muslim family law that the man or the oldest male relative determined over women and children. For the marital status in Germany, it was important that the individual belonged to a community, usually ethnically and / or religiously defined. There were special laws for Christians, and the surrender brought many people into connection with various powers as “protected” ( beratlılar ). Russia took care of Orthodox Greeks, France took all Catholic priests and religious under its protection. Ottomans who took on another citizenship outside of the country lost their native citizenship. The privileges were restricted in 1863.

Towards the end of the long war in the Caucasus , at the beginning of the 1860s, Russia offered some of the defeated Muslim tribes to resettle in the Kazan region or in the Ottoman Empire. B. the Ubychen, a group of Circassians did. They were completely assimilated in Turkey in the following century.

One of the consequences of the Russo-Ottoman War in 1877/78 was the cession of the Kars region . Here, too, Muslim residents were given the opportunity to emigrate.

Nationality Act 1869

A first modern nationality law ( tâbiiyet-i osmaniye kanunnamesi ) was that of January 18, 1869, which also came into force for the Egyptian part of the empire by ordinance on April 18. It had nine paragraphs. The validity was extended retrospectively to January 1, 1877 to Eastern Rumelia in 1879 . At the same time, a special province affiliation, called "indignity", was created.

In implementing the ius soli principle, everyone residing in the Reich territory was initially considered to be an Ottoman until they had proven that they were foreigners.
On July 17, 1869, a five-person commission in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was created for citizenship issues.

An Ottoman subject from birth was anyone whose parents or father were Ottomans. Children of foreigners born in the country were allowed to opt within three years of reaching the age of majority .

Naturalization was possible after five years of residence by applying to the Foreign Minister. The government approved accelerated merit naturalization if necessary. For the time it was unusual that naturalization or loss did not extend to underage children.

The Ottomans were only allowed to renounce or voluntarily acquire a foreign nationality with prior approval. This was proven by an Irade certificate. Anyone who violated this or entered a foreign army without permission was forbidden from entering or staying in his home country as a result of being denied. Since 1867, those who left had no longer the right to own property in the country.

Re-acquisition was possible for widows who had been Ottoman women before their wedding within three years of the death of the foreign husband.

Detailed explanations ( izahname ) were issued on 4 Zilhicce 1265/26. March 1869. It was clarified that the law was not retrospective, that dismissal permits were issued exclusively by the central government and that care must be taken to ensure that the applicant does not evade civil or criminal responsibility.

The strict regulations on emigration in general, property by foreigners and the restrictions on the inheritance of property by an Ottoman woman married to foreigners to her husbands or children were also of importance in questions of citizenship.

1876 ​​Constitution

The constitution stipulated in Art. 6 that “all subjects of the empire are called Ottomans ” and that their citizenship is regulated by law.

1914 to 1929

Expatriation by law
Migration as a result of the "Lausanne Convention."

The Treaty on the Exchange of Population between Greece and Turkey ("Lausanne Convention"), concluded on January 30, 1923, stipulated in Art. 7 that "emigrants" lost their respective citizenship.

Law 1024 of May 23, 1927 gave the Council of Ministers the right to expatriate all Turks who had not taken part in Ataturk's struggle for freedom, provided they lived abroad and had not returned home by July 24, 1923.

One can see the genocide of the Armenians , a Christian minority in Anatolia, as an extreme form of “expatriation”.

Assigned areas and provisional validity
In the Balkans
  • The autonomous principality of Bulgaria passed its own law on April 26th, 1883, that "retroactively from the declaration of war" in 1876, made all former Ottoman subjects Bulgarians.
  • The Ottoman citizenship law remained in use in Albania until the new regulation on April 1, 1929 by §4-21 of the new civil code.
Africa

For the provinces of Tripolitania , Fessan and Cyrenaica , which were won as a result of the Italian-Turkish war in 1912, a special Italian-Libyan citizenship with limited rights was created for former Ottoman, Muslim subjects.

Consequences of the world war

The peace treaties of Sèvres in 1920 and Lausanne of August 1923 regulated the assignment of territory. Turks resident in such areas were usually given an option to stay. New citizenships emerged e.g. B .:

  • im for the parts of the French League of Nations mandate for Syria and Lebanon . This gave rise to modern Syrian citizenship .
  • The British occupying forces created Iraq in 1920 from the provinces of Vilâyet Baghdad , Vilâyet Mossul and Vilâyet Basra . After a brief, bloody uprising in 1921, the mandate area became the Kingdom of Iraq. British dominated by the Anglo-Iraqi treaties . A first “Iraq Nationality Law” was promulgated on Oct. 9, 1924. It was changed on Feb. 25, 1925 for the first time.
  • The League of Nations mandate for Palestine was not issued until August 1, 1925, when the Palestinian Citizenship Order was issued.
  • A new law on citizenship was passed in 1928 for the Transjordan mandate .
  • The Kingdom of Egypt , which became independent by the grace of Britannia in 1922 , repealed the Ottoman regulations by the law of May 26, 1926. This has already been revised by Decree No. 19, Feb. 27, 1929.
  • Under the reign of Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud , a citizenship law was promulgated in his capacity as King of the Hejaz on September 24, 1926. It determined that all those who lived here after the end of the World War were to be regarded as subjects.
  • Italian laws No. 1854 of October 15, 1925 and No. 1378 of March 13, 1927 governed the granting of Italian citizenship to the optants on the Italian Aegean Islands .

Nationality Act 1928

The new Turkish constitution of 1924 stipulated in Art. 88 that everyone living in Turkey, regardless of race or religion, is "Turks". This also applied to children born abroad with a Turkish father, optants or naturalized children.

A new Citizenship Act of May 28, 1928 came into force on Jan. 1, 1929. Responsibility now lay with the Ministry of the Interior, and certain permits had to be granted by the Council of Ministers.

The previous definition of acquisition at birth has been expanded to include foundlings, illegitimate children of Turkish mothers or children of stateless persons born in Turkey. Also, all children born on Turkish soil after the entry into force automatically became Turks. After reaching the age of majority, they were given six months to opt for one of their parents' foreign citizenship.

In the case of marriages, the rule was that a Turkish woman remained the Turkish woman married to a foreigner. If a foreigner married a Turk, she automatically became Turkish, but possibly not her pre-marriage children if their father was still alive. Widows continued to have a three-year option period after the husband's death.

loss

The waiver remained subject to approval. Those who received this permit had one year to sell their land and leave the land permanently. If these people wanted to visit their homeland, they were only allowed to be granted single entry visas. It was also possible to expatriate by a Council of Ministers resolution who took up a civil service position abroad without permission or who did not comply with a presentation order in the event of mobilization or deserted, etc. The same applied to naturalized persons who did not serve or acted against the interests of Turkey. Expatriates were forbidden to stay in the country, their property fell into the hands of the state treasury.

Legal basis and Nationality Act 2009

The legal basis is the Turkish Constitution and the Turkish Nationality Act.

Article 66 of the Constitution :

(1) Everyone who is bound by the bond of nationality with the Turkish state is a Turk.
(2) The child of the Turkish father or mother is Turkish.
(3) Citizenship is acquired on the basis of the requirements specified by law and is only lost in the cases specified in the law.
(4) No Turkish citizen who has not acted in a manner incompatible with his ties to his fatherland may be deprived of his citizenship.
(5) The legal process against decisions and acts in connection with the withdrawal of citizenship must not be closed.

Before the current constitution of 1982, citizenship was regulated in Article 54 of the 1961 constitution (identical) , and before that in Article 88 of the 1924 constitution .

The legal definition in Art. 66 of the Constitution, after the Turkish citizens Turks are is because of the ethnic dimension of the term Turk ( Türk discussed in Turkey). A report by the “Minority and Cultural Rights” working group of the Advisory Council for Human Rights Issues established by Prime Minister Erdoğan suggested in October 2004 the use of the terms Türkiyeli (coming from Turkey, of Turkish origin ) in the sense of citizenship and Turk (Turk) in the sense of nationality . While the DTP proposed a corresponding constitutional amendment (replacement of Türk by Türkiyeli ), this was strongly rejected by the CHP, among others . According to the official interpretation, "all Turkish citizens, regardless of their ethnic origin, are Turks".

The amendment to the law in 2009 retained the principles, but the new version changed the numbering. The Ministry of Interior continues to be responsible. Individual naturalization applications are examined by commissions at the provincial level, and they become effective through a Council of Ministers decision. Citizenship issues are also entered in the MERNIS registry office, which has been in existence since 2007.

Acquisition

Birth on the territory of Turkey confers Turkish citizenship (“ ius soli ”, birthplace principle) only if the child born cannot acquire any other citizenship through parentage.

For naturalization in Turkey, it is required that the foreign person is of legal age according to their own national laws, has been legally resident in Turkey for at least five years without interruption, wants to prove that they want to settle permanently in Turkey, live in a morally sound manner, have no contagious diseases has sufficient knowledge of the Turkish language and a secure livelihood. Since 2017, applicants are no longer allowed to pose a risk to national security.

Acquisition is made easier for spouses of Turks (waiting period 3 years), for stateless adopted children and for former Turkish citizens and refugees recognized since 2016. The Turkish citizenship law allows in principle, but not unconditionally, dual citizenship .

Citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus only need to submit a written application for Turkish citizenship.

Re-naturalization is possible for former Turks and their children; Depending on the reason for loss, it may be tied to conditions (usually residence requirement) or deadlines.

loss

The loss of Turkish citizenship can be done by exercising the right of option, applying for dismissal or revocation of naturalization due to false information. Discharge permits require that statelessness does not occur and that the adult, responsible applicant is not a wanted criminal or debtor.

Citizenship can also be revoked or withdrawn. This is especially the case when a Turk serves in an army that is at war with Turkey or otherwise remains in the foreign state service or army despite being requested to the contrary. A new addition in 2017 was a list of suspected serious political crimes if the accused is outside the reach of the Turkish state security organs and does not present himself within three months of being requested to do so. Expatriation takes effect through publication in the Official Gazette and does not extend to spouses or children.

A peculiarity of the Turkish citizenship law is that with permission expatriated former Turkish citizens and their descendants up to the 3rd generation a “blue card” ( mavi kart , formerly “pink card” / pembe kart due to Art. 28 Turkish StAG since Law No. 4112 of 1995), whereby essential citizenship rights are retained (e.g. inheritance law , right of residence, work permit, property, but not: right to vote or employment in the civil service).

Citizenship Purchase

Law No. 5901, dated Sept. 18, 2018, allows an investor to apply for naturalization if they have either created fifty jobs in Turkey, or have purchased property for at least US $ 250,000 or, under certain conditions, invested at least half a million US $ that they cannot be deducted for three years.

See also

literature

  • Aksoy, Mehmet Reşat; Nationalité de la femme mariée et des enfants mineurs d'après le droit turc; Friborg CH 1941; [Diss.]
  • Arminjon, Pierre; De la nationalité dans l'Empire Ottoman: spécialement en Egypt; Revue générale de droit international public, 1901 , p. 520
  • Berki, Mehmet S .; Nationalité des enfants naturels dans le droit international privé de la Turquie; Friborg CH 1946; [Diss.]
  • The laws applicable in the European states on the acquisition and loss of citizenship, excluding the German Reich Law of June 1, 1870; Berlin 1898 (Hofmann), pp. 331-6; Digitized
  • Flournoy, Richard; A Collection of Nationality Laws of Various Countries, as Contained in Constitutions, Statutes and Treaties; New York 1929 (Oxford University Press), pp. 567-72
  • Ghali, Paul; Les nationalités détachées de l'Empire ottoman à la suite de la guerre; Paris 1934 (Les Éditions Domat-Montchrestien), pp. 221-6
  • Gündüz, Eran; Multiculturalism in Turkish? Debates about citizenship, nation and minorities in the Europeanization process; Bielefeld 2012 (transcript); ISBN 9783837621099 ; [Diss. Frankfurt / M. 2010]
  • Hanley, Will; What Ottoman Nationality Was and Was Not ; Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vol. 3 (2016), No. 2
  • Minorités en Turquie: Turc-Yourdou de Lausanne. Leurs privilèges. Leurs droits politiques. Protection de l'Europe. La loyauté de la Turquie à l'égard des sujets alliés. Pour la défense des droits légitimes de la nationalité turque; Lausanne 1920 (A. Bovard-Giddey, Imprimeur)
  • Wednesday, Felix; Provisions on acquiring citizenship; Correspondence sheet on emigration and settlement, 1934, No. 1, p. 74a
  • Christian Rumpf ; Introduction to Turkish Law; Munich 2004 (Beck), ISBN 978-3-406-51293-3 , pp. 105-111
  • Salem, ER; De la nationalité en Turquie; Journal du droit international privé et de la jurisprudence comparée, I: Vol 32 (1905), pp. 585-91, 872-83, II: Vol. 33 (1906), pp. 1032-41, II: Vol. 34 ( 1907), pp. 51-6
  • Salem, ER; You mariage des étrangers en Turquie; Journal du droit international privé et de la jurisprudence comparée, 1890
  • Schneider, Katja; The Turkish law on foreigners and citizenship and previous effects under European law: the genesis of norms and the autonomous right to set norms in globalization; Baden-Baden 2016 (Nomos); ISBN 978-3-8452-7548-2

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The term is more comprehensive and can also mean subject, nationality, or “subordinate to the sovereign”.
  2. ↑ Restricted only in 1856 by the Islahat Fermanı.
  3. ↑ See Karpat, Kemal H .; Millets and Nationality: The Roots of the Incongruity of Nation and State in the Post-Ottoman Era; in: Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire; New York 1982 (Holmes & Meier Publishers)
  4. ↑ See Ahmad, Feroz; The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities: Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908-1918; Salt Lake City 2014 (University of Utah Press).
  5. ↑ Frz. Translation of the regulation: Règlement relatif aux consulats étrangers d'août 1863, amend. 1865, in: Arminjon, Pierre; Étrangers et protégés dans l'Empire ottoman; Paris 1903, pp. 325-30.
  6. ↑ Dt. Ex. In The laws applicable in the European countries ..., 1898, pp. 331-6.
  7. ↑ Engl. Transl .: Library and Records Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; British and foreign state papers; No. 67, p. 1251.
  8. ^ Ordinance of April 26, 1879.
  9. ↑ Irade = "will;" the document thus announced the will of the imperial government. They were only available after examination of outstanding civil or criminal obligations and even then only with difficulty (or in return for a hefty bribe). It was not until 1906 that an official list of fees was published.
  10. ↑ Marriages between Ottoman women and Persian men were forbidden (administrative instructions of 5 Şaban 1291/24 September 1874 and 5 Receb 1305/18 March 1888). See Martykánová, Darina; Matching Sharia and 'Governmentality': Muslim Marriage Legislation in the Late Ottoman Empire ; Univ. Madrid.
  11. ↑ 25 Rebiülahir 1300/5. March 1883: ecan ibin hakk-ı istimlâk-i kanunu.
  12. ↑ Engl ex .: Instructions Concerning Inheritance of Foreigner's Wives Who are Nationals of the State; in: Qafisheh, Mutaz M .; International Law Foundations…; Leiden 2009, p. 32
  13. ↑ Published: TC Resmî Gazete, No. 598, May 31, 1927.
  14. ↑ Engl. Transl .: Flournoy (1929), pp. 5-8. See also: Establishing the Albanian border .
  15. ↑ For Lebanon: Ordinance 15 / S, for Syria 16 / S both of 19 Jan. 1925. In addition, transitional rules for Turks in Ordinance 2825 / 2825bis. English translation of the texts in Flournoy (1929), pp. 298-300.
  16. ↑ a b Bentwich, W .; Nationality in Mandated Territories Detached from Turkey; British Yearbook of International Law, 1926, p. 27.
  17. ↑ 1) Qafisheh, Mutaz M .; Genesis of Citizenship in Palestine and Israel: Palestinian Nationality in the 1917-1925 Period; Bulletin du Center de recherche français à Jérusalem, Vol. 21 (2010) ; 2) this; International Law Foundations of Palestinian Nationality: a Legal Examination of Nationality in Palestine Under Britain's Rule; Leiden 2009 (Martinus Nijhoff).
  18. ^ Trans-Jordan Nationality Law of 1928; in: United Nations; Laws Concerning Nationality; New York 1954, p. 274. Gen. international law issues: Ficheleff, Samuel; The statut international de la Palestine orientale (la Transjordanie); Paris 1932 (Librairie Lipschutz)
  19. ↑ Engl. Transl .: Flournoy (1929), p. 331.
  20. ^ According to the Treaty of Lausanne.
  21. ↑ TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ ANAYASASI ( Memento of July 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) MADDE 66 (Turkish) Turkish Constitution of 1982 ( Memento of September 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Article 66 (German) (By law of October 3, 2001 Article 66 paragraph 2 sentence 2 was deleted)
  22. ↑ Turkish Constitution of 1924 (English) (PDF; 657 kB) as adopted, without constitutional changes, Turkish Constitution of 1924 ( Memento of July 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Turkish)
  23. ↑ a b Post from Istanbul: Looking for a strategy for the Kurdish question By Constanze Letsch January 30, 2008.
  24. ^ Provocation for the Turkish nationalists By Rainer Hermann, FAZ of January 22, 2007.
  25. ↑ Oehring: Expert opinion dated April 6, 2008 ( memento from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.2 MB) on: VG Stuttgart A 17 K 533/07.
  26. ↑ ISLAM AND POLITICS IN TURKEY FROM 2008 (PDF; 325 kB) Foundation Research Center Switzerland-Turkey and Günter Seufert, Basel, February 2008.
  27. ↑ Human rights and citizens of Kurdish origin ( Memento from September 11, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information.
  28. ↑ Engl. Ubs , Act No. 5901, May 29, 2009. Minor changes were made by Act 7039 of Oct. 19, 2017.
  29. ↑ Residence entitlement according to Section 31, Law No. 6485, of April 4, 2013.
  30. ↑ The conditions of Law No. 5683 of July 15, 1950 on property and, if applicable, asset collapse apply.
  31. ↑ of Turkish origin and with a German passport: How the pink card secures your rights in Turkey isoplan. MAVİ KART (ESKİ PEMBE KART) UYGULAMASI ( Memento from July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Turkish) Action Office Naturalization in the Paritätisches NRW, Source: TC Dışişleri Bakanlığı
  32. ↑ 1995: Art 29.Amended by §14, Law No. 6304 of May 9, 2012.
  33. ↑ Turkey Information of the Federal Employment Agency , accessed on 7 December 2011th

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