Amendments on the ownership of Syrians who got Turkish citizenship
New decisions regarding the ownership of Syrians who have obtained Turkish citizenship, know it
After the recent confusion about the problems related to the ownership of Syrians with Turkish citizenship or multi-nationals, the Turkish government issued decisions to put the limit in line with the general interests of the Republic of Turkey, here are the most important ones.
Decisions issued by the Turkish Tapu Administration:
On Tuesday morning, November 16, 2021, the Turkish Tabu Department made 6 amendments regarding the ownership of Syrians who obtained Turkish citizenship. The amendments stipulated the following:
First: Naturalized Syrians and Turks receive the same treatment alike, meaning that Syrians or foreigners in general who have obtained Turkish citizenship will be treated according to their Turkish citizenship without regard to other nationalities they hold, whether Syrian or other.
Example of the first amendment:
Ammar is a Syrian citizen who holds Turkish citizenship in addition to his Syrian citizenship. He will be able to own a property as a Turkish citizen owns, and he will also get all the privileges of other Turkish citizens without regard to his Syrian citizenship, and Turkish law will be applied to him as he holds the citizenship of this country.
Second: If multinational foreigners hold one of the nationalities prohibited from owning real estate in Turkey and do not hold Turkish citizenship, they will not be able to own a property in Turkey.
Example of the second amendment:
If Khaled is a “Syrian citizen with Swedish citizenship” who wants to own a property in Turkey, he will not be able to do so because he does not hold Turkish citizenship and holds one of the nationalities prohibited from owning real estate in Turkey “Syrian citizenship”, knowing that he holds Swedish citizenship, but according to the second amendment of the law Ownership of multinational foreigners is treated according to the nationality that is prohibited from owning in Turkey.
Third: A foreigner born in one of the countries prohibited from owning real estate in Turkey must prove that he does not belong to that country so that he can buy a property in Turkey.
Example of the third amendment:
Jihan is a Palestinian national, but she was born in Damascus. If she decides to buy a property in Turkey, she will be obliged to present a document proving that she does not belong to the Syrian nationality, meaning that she did not obtain the Syrian nationality and that she was born in Damascus only, because Syrian nationality holders are prohibited from owning real estate in Turkey.
Fourth: All of the multinationals and holders of one of the nationalities prohibited from owning real estate in Turkey, but who previously owned a property of a nationality that is not prohibited from owning in Turkey before these last amendments, will be treated according to the nationality in which they owned their property.
Example of the Fourth Amendment:
Adnan is a Syrian national, but he obtained Egyptian citizenship and owned real estate in Istanbul before these amendments. How is he treated? He is treated as an Egyptian citizen because he owned his apartment in Turkey before these decisions were issued and he will not have any problem.
Fifth: The affairs of the Syrians whose names are registered real estate will be considered through a court decision or inheritance through consulting the Director General of the Land Registry in the capital, Ankara, and then applying the decisions that are in line with the interest of the Republic of Turkey.
Sixth: Syrians who do not have Turkish citizenship are still unable to directly own a property, but they can buy a property in the name of a company they established in Turkish territory.
An important note: All of the above decisions are not permanent and can be subject to modification at any time, meaning that the Turkish government may one day cancel the restrictions imposed on Syrians and allow them to own property as normal as other foreigners.
Who are the nationalities prohibited from owning real estate in Turkey?
According to Turkish law; there are 5 countries whose citizens cannot buy a property in Turkey:
Syrian
Armenian
Cypriot
North Korean
Hydrangea
Why can't Syrians own a property in Turkey?
To answer this question, we must go back a little bit in history to the year 1927, when the Syrian-Turkish relations were suffering from differences and serious problems on many levels, most notably the issue of real estate ownership. From their right to mortgage and other legal rights available to real estate owners, and in light of this, Turkey took the same measures on 28/5/1927 with Syrian citizens residing in Turkey, and from that day until the present time, Syrians cannot buy a property in Turkey under the name of the transaction law. Likewise.
Do Syrians benefit from the naturalization law in exchange for real estate ownership worth $250,000?
According to the decisions put forward by the Turkish government in late 2018, foreign investors were able to obtain Turkish citizenship in exchange for buying one or more properties with a value of 250 thousand US dollars, after the amount required to obtain Turkish citizenship was one million dollars, so are the Syrian citizenship holders entitled to benefit from this decision ?
Unfortunately, they are not entitled to take advantage of that decision until further notice.
On May 13, 2022, the Turkish government issued a decision to raise the amount of obtaining Turkish citizenship through the purchase of real estate to a value of 400,000 dollars instead of 250,000 dollars. The decision has been implemented starting in 12th June 2022.
The investor has the right to buy a real estate or several properties with the new amount of $400,000 in order to obtain citizenship, provided that the investor must keep the property for 3 years and he mustn’t sell the property he purchased for the purpose of citizenship before 3 years from the date of purchasing. For more information about the Turkish citizenship law and its conditions, click here.
How can Syrians obtain Turkish citizenship?
If obtaining Turkish citizenship through real estate investment is prohibited for Syrians according to the reciprocity law, what is the way for Syrians to obtain Turkish citizenship? In fact, there are many methods available for this, most notably:
Deposit $500,000 in Turkish government banks for 3 years
Opening a company in Turkey with a capital of $1,000,000 and employing 50 Turkish-origin employees
Residence in Turkey for 5 years with a work permit
Study in universities in Turkey
Random naturalization of Syrians for residents in Turkey who hold educational degrees or who work legally through a work permit.
The war keeps Syrians for more than 10 years on Turkish soil
The conditions of the Syrian war are still ravaging the conditions of the Syrian citizens and dispersing them between Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan