What are the Conditions for Obtaining Turkish Citizenship?
Turkish citizenship is acquired at birth or later. According to the Turkish Citizenship Law, the rights to obtain citizenship later are as follows;
As a rule, the competent authority for obtaining Turkish citizenship by decision of the competent authority is the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The acquisition of citizenship by way of exception and the re-naturalization of those who have lost their Turkish citizenship depending on their residence status is by the decision of the President.
According to article 4 of the European Convention on Citizenship, “everyone has the right to citizenship, statelessness must be prevented and no one should be arbitrarily deprived of his citizenship.” Although Turkey is not a party to the European Convention on Citizenship, a violation of the provisions of the European Convention on Citizenship may in some cases mean a violation of the provisions of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
According to Article 66 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey; "Citizenship is gained under the conditions stipulated by the law and is lost only in cases specified in the law. No one can be removed from Turkish citizenship unless an act against patriotism is committed. A judicial remedy can be applied. The judicial path cannot be closed against decisions and actions related to renunciation of citizenship.”
How to Lose Turkish Citizenship?
Cases of loss of citizenship in the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 are as follows;
According to Article 24 of the Turkish Citizenship Law, the loss of Turkish citizenship by the decision of the competent authority occurs by renouncement or removal from citizenship. Another condition that leads to the loss of Turkish citizenship is Article 40 of the Turkish Citizenship Law. According to this provision, decisions regarding the acquisition or loss of Turkish citizenship may be reversed if legal conditions are not met.
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 17, it is stated that no one can be arbitrarily deprived of their citizenship (m. 15/2). This provision has been repeated exactly in the European Convention on Citizenship (article 4/c).
In Which Circumstances Is Turkish Citizenship Cancelled Despite Acquiring Turkish Citizenship?
24 of the Turkish Citizenship Law. According to its article; "If naturalization has occurred as a result of misrepresentation or concealment of important issues by the person concerned, the decision on naturalization is canceled by the Council of Ministers. ’
The law regulates that an annulment decision will also be applied to spouses and children who acquire Turkish citizenship in the same way depending on the person whose citizenship has been revoked (Turkish Citizenship Law art. 32, Regulation, art. 58/1).
A decision on cancellation cannot be made after 5 years have elapsed since the applicant's application for Turkish citizenship was received.
According to the European Convention on Citizenship, the state may make a disposition that results in the loss of a person's citizenship for the following reasons;
In other cases, the removal of a person from citizenship may constitute a violation of the Law.
What can be done in cases such as Cancellation of Turkish Citizenship, Cancellation of Turkish Citizenship Application, Removal of Turkish Citizenship, Removal of Exceptional Citizenship Application from the Process?
In such cases, an appropriate method is followed by evaluating the person's condition. A lawsuit can be filed if the current state of the person requires filing a lawsuit. The following regulations have been made by the Turkish Laws related to this.
Article 66 of our Constitution regulates that “citizenship can only be realized for the reasons specified in the law”. Our Constitution regulates that the judicial remedy is open against the decisions and actions regarding the removal of citizenship.
Decisions on the acquisition or loss of Turkish citizenship are decisions of an administrative nature made by administrative authorities. Because the decision-making authority regarding the acquisition or loss of citizenship in the Turkish Citizenship Law belongs to the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, since the decision to revoke Turkish citizenship is also an administrative decision, it should also be determined whether there are any time restrictions in Turkish Administrative Law on the termination of administrative actions obtained by unreal declaration or fraud. As a rule, the period for filing a lawsuit against a transaction of an illegal nature is thirty days. (Code of Administrative Procedure, m.10)
For this reason, in cases of Cancellation of Turkish Citizenship, Removal of Turkish Citizenship and Exceptional Citizenship, it is necessary to evaluate whether a lawsuit should be filed by consulting lawyers who are experts in their fields.