LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP UNDER THE TURKISH LAW
ABSTRACT
In this article what is meanning of concept of citizenship in the republic of Turkey expressed that dual citizenship and statelessness, however, it has been examined how organized by the Turkish citizenship laws. From the Ottoman Empire until the Republic Of Turkey, it was stated how the Turkish citizenship rules are regulated and changed. In addition, information was given about the provisions applied in Turkish law on the loss or acquisition of citizenship and the outcome thereof. How citizenship provisions are implemented under the European Citizenship Agreement and the Turkish Constitution and Turkey has been described that assesses how concept of citizenship international and national field.
Keywords: Citizenship, Turkish Citizenship Law, Loss Of Citizenship, Acquisition Of Citizenship
INTRODUCTION
The word of citizen came about when the words “civis” and “civitas” in Latin changed over time. The words civis and civitas refer to the roman republic or a member of the Greek city. In the contemporary world, the meaning of citizenship can be defined in more than one way. The most well-known meaning of citizenship is the person who has a say in the old and new republics and democracies to participate in citizen rule. Secondly, citizens are members of a sovereign political community. Therefore they have some rights to be protected by the government. The use of the third meaning of citizenship in the last century is more common. People have started using the concept of citizenship as members of political communities or other organizations.1
Citizenship is sometimes not only acquired for one country. Multiple states can grant a legal status to a person at the same time. This is called dual citizenship or plural citizenship. Some states do not accept the principle of dual citizenship or plural citizenship. Turkish Citizenship Law did not allow dual citizenship. With the new law adopted in 1981, dual citizenship was legalized. 2
Some people are not citizens of any country or cannot prove their citizenship. In this case, these people are called stateless. In general, this has not been fully achieved even if everyone has to have a citizenship.3
1 Işın, Engin & Turner, Bryan (2002) ‘Handbook of Citizenship Studies’ SAGE Publications ltd, page: 105-106 2 Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep, ‘Dual Citizenship In Turkey’: Faist, Thomas (2007) Dual Citizenship In Europe From Nationhood To Social Integrate, New York, Routledge, Page:128
3 Dolunay, Ayhan, (2016) ‘Vatandaşlık Hukuku Temel İlkelerinin Türk Hukuku Ve Kıbrıs Türk Hukuku Açısından Değerlendirilmesi’ Türkiye Barolar Birliği Dergisi, sayı:122 Cilt:29 Sayfa: 369-416
CITIZENSHIP IN TURKISH LAW
States regulated citizenship rules in their own way. However, citizenship law also has international features. Because legal or political citizenship relations between human and state sometimes concern other states.4
I. SOURCES OF TURKISH CITIZENSHIP LAW
A. NATIONAL SOURCES
States have established their own rules regarding the acquisition of citizenship, loss of citizenship etc. according to their constitutional regulations. Jurisprudence, statutes, laws and regulations are the sources of Turkish law. Citizenship is not the relationship between natural persons, but the link between the person and the state. the state is superior to persons, so citizenship cannot be considered as a private law field. It is also approved by the Council of State that citizenship is in the field of public law. 5
Each state determines who its citizens are by its own laws. This is stated in article 3 of the European Convention On Nationality. Each State shall determine under its own law who are its nationals.6
B. INTERNATIONAL SOURCES
The main source of international law is international agreements. Some resources, such as the European Convention, are specific to a particular region. Besides, some resources are open to all states in the world. However, some international agreements are not just about citizenship but contains citizenship provisions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The rights and liberties of individuals and the interests of the state should not conflict when regulating citizenship rules. All people in the world are connected to a state through a citizenship bond. Some people have acquired citizenship of more than one
4 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet (2004) ‘Vatandaşlık Hukuku’ 4. Baskı, İstanbul, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, Sayfa:13
5 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet Sayfa:14,17,18
6 European Convention on Nationality, Strasbourg, 6.XI.1997 < https://rm.coe.int/168007f2c8 > l.a.d. 12.04.2020
state using the right to dual citizenship. This indicates that citizenship is of an international nature. 7
II. HISTORY OF TURKISH CITIZENSHIP AND TURKISH CITIZENSHIP LAW
When the Ottoman period in history is examined, the concept of Ottoman citizenship emerged legitimately only in the period of Tanzimat in 1830s.8 Besides hosting a large number of Muslims on the Ottoman territory, there were also Christian and Jewish refugees.9 In 1869 everyone living in the Ottoman lands with Ottoman citizenship law got Ottoman citizenship. In 1924 the first constution of the Republic of Turkey regulated citizenship in article 88. According to this article, without distinction of race and gender the everyone who living the Republic of Turkey are considered Turkish citizens. The citizenship law of the Republic of Turkey accepted in 1928.10
III. ACQUIRE THE TURKISH CITIZENSHIP
According to article 5 of Turkish Citizenship Law “Turkish citizenship is acquired by birth or after birth.”11 The person whose mother and father are Turkish have Turkish citizenship when they are born. The reason for this is the application of the principle of “ius sanguinis” in citizenship law.12 This principle is also stated in the turkish constitution. Anyone who has a Turkish mother or a Turkish father is Turkish. However, anyone who is a citizen of the Turkish state is also considered Turkish.13 In the Turkish constitution, citizenship is not acquired by
7 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet Sayfa: 15,16,19
8 Işın, Engin, ‘Citizenship After Orientalism Ottoman Citizenship’: Keyman, Fuat & Icduygu, Ahmet (2005) Challenges To Citizenship In A Globalizing World: European Questions And Turkish Experiences, London, Routledge, Page:42
9 Kirişci, Kemal, (2000) ‘Disaggregating Turkish Citizenship And Immigration Practices’ Middle Eastern Studies
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263200008701316 > l.a.d. 31.03.2020
10 Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep, ‘Changing conceptions of citizenship in Turkey’: Bauböck, Rainer & Perching, Bernhard & Sievers, Wiebke (2009) Citizenship Policies In The New Europe, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Universty Press, Page:420
11 Turkish Citizenship Law <https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4a9d204d2.pdf> l.a.d. 15.04.2020
12 Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep, ‘Changing conceptions of citizenship in Turkey’ Page:427
13 Turkish Constitution <https://www.anayasa.gov.tr/en/legislation/turkish-constiution/> l.a.d. 15.04.2020
race or origin. Those who acquire citizenship later, have equal rights with other Turkish citizens.14 The ways of gaining citizenship are mentioned in the Turkish citizenship law.
A. PRIMARY CITIZENSHIP
Acquisition of citizenship by birth is primary citizenship. No need demand for citizenship. Citizenship acquired automatically. Primary citizenship is acquired in two ways; The first one is citizenship gained by the person’s parents being Turkish. The second is citizenship acquired on a land basis. 15
B. SUBSEQUENT ACQUSITION OF CITIZENSHIP
Acquiring citizenship after birth for any reason but if the person is stateless when he is born, the citizenship s/he gains becomes the primary citizenship. Citizenship is acquired in 3 ways; through one’s own will. through legal action by the competent authority. through the doing of international conventions.16
According to Article 9 of Turkish Citizenship Law “Turkish citizenship shall be acquired after birth with a decision of competent authority, by adoption or by choice.” 17
1. Acquisition of Citizenship By Adoption
Children acquire citizenship through birth. However, some children can acquire citizenship through adoption. Adopted child acquires citizenship with ex lege. That is, s/he gains citizenship of his/her parents.18
2. Regaining of Turkish Citizenship Depending On The Residence Conditions
If a person who used to be a Turkish citizen wants to regain citizenship 3 years without removing the security problem must be resident in Turkey.19 In the Supreme Court decision
14 Bozatay, Şeniz ,(2010) ‘5901 Sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu’na Göre Türk Vatandaşlığının Kazanılması’ Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi, sayı:8 cilt:2 Sayfa: 165-182
15 Dolunay, Ayhan, (2016) TBB Dergisi Sayfa: 392
16 Dolunay, Ayhan, (2016) TBB Dergisi Sayfa: 389
17 Turkish Citizenship Law <https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4a9d204d2.pdf> l.a.d. 15.04.2020
18 Aygül, Musa, (2012) ‘Evlat Edinme Yolu İle Vatandaşlığın Kaybedilmesi Ve Kazanılması’ TBB Dergisi Sayı:99 Sayfa:46-80
19 Bozatay, Şeniz ,(2010)
held in 2011, the claim of the plaintiff who wanted to regain Turkish citizenship was rejected due to social security.20
3. Gaining Turkish Citizenship By Marriage
Turkish citizenship cannot be obtained directly by marriage. Citizenship is gained with the condition of staying married with the Turkish spouse for 3 years. The reason for this condition is to prevent fake marriage to get citizenship.21
IV. LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP UNDER THE TURKISH LAW
If looked the law of citizenship the person should be free to choose citizenship and the state should not compel one to stick to only one nationality. This rule is regulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The rule emphasized that one can freely change his citizenship. However, states generally have not set up very easy rules for leaving citizenship.22 According to the Turkish citizenship law, the loss of citizenship can be in 3 ways. The first is that the person leaves his / her citizenship by using his / her own free will (Article 23). Secondly, the person does not need to apply, with the decision of the competent authority, the person loses his citizenship (Article 24). Thirdly, the application made for citizenship is approved by the competent authority (Article 25).23
A. THE LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP WITH THE RIGHT OF CHOICE
Exiting from citizenship by choice is stated as follows in the Turkish citizenship law. Citizenship Law article 25 requires citizens to be citizens of another state.24 And according to article 26 “Among the persons who request permission for renunciation of Turkish citizenship in order to acquire the citizenship of an foreign State,…” to get out of Turkish citizenship as mentioned in these provisions, it is accepted only on condition that the person is a citizen of another state.25
20 Yargıtay 10. HD. Esas no: 2010/8194 Karar no: 2011/15524 Karar tarihi: 21.11.2011
21 Güner, Cemil, (2015) ‘The Acquisition Of Turkish Citizenship By Way Of Marriage’ The Macrotheme Review No: 4, (6), Page:157
22 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet Sayfa: 161,162
23 Turkish Citizenship Law <https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4a9d204d2.pdf> l.a.d. 15.04.2020
24 Turkish Citizenship Law Article 25/b <https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4a9d204d2.pdf> l.a.d. 15.04.2020
25 Dolunay, Ayhan, (2016) TBB Dergisi Sayfa: 396
There are conditions for leaving the citizenship upon the request of the person and the permission of the competent authority;
- Having the power to distinguish and being 18 years old.
- Obtain citizenship of another state.
- Not being sought for military or crime.
- Not to have been punished before.26
B. DEPRIVATION OF TURKISH CITIZENSHIP OF THE PERSON
Citizenship lost in this way is not optional. The decision to deprive the person of citizenship is made by the council of ministers. In the Turkish citizenship law, the deprivation of citizenship is listed by 3 principles;
- Obtaining citizenship of another state without permission.
- Situations related to military service.
- Do work that would threaten the security of the state of Turkey status.27
If considered the effect of losing Turkish citizenship on one’s spouse and children, spouse and child of the person who could lose their citizenship likewise, they will not be discharged from citizenship. On the contrary, if the spouse and child are stateless, that will be prevented.28
1. Loss Of Citizenship Through Adoption
Loss of citizenship through adoption occurs in 2 cases; the first is to lose the citizenship gained through adoption if the adoption refuses. Latter, loss of citizenship of a person adopted by someone from another nation. In addition, those who acquire Turkish citizenship through adoption were granted the right to withdraw from citizenship.29
2. Loss Of Citizenship Due To The Nullity Of Marriage
In a situation that causes marriage to end with nullity. If the spouse who gained Turkish citizenship by marriage, is good faith does not lose citizenship. However, if the foreign spouse
26 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet Sayfa: 176
27 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet Sayfa: 200
28 Dolunay, Ayhan, (2016) TBB Dergisi Sayfa: 394
29 Aygül, Musa, (2012) TBB Dergisi Sayfa:49,50,51
knows the reason for this nullity before marriage, the foreign spouse loses his Turkish citizenship after the nullity case. 30
C. TERMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP
Exiting citizenship through loss of citizenship is valid after being published in the official newspaper by the Council of Ministers.31 The child of the person who leaves Turkish citizenship with his own decision is also removed from citizenship. However, the child of the person who lost his citizenship by judicial decision is not removed from citizenship.32
CONCLUSION
Citizenship determines that a person belongs to a state and one’s responsibilities towards the state. Turkish citizenship law has approved dual citizenship. However, statelessness cannot be accepted according to Turkish citizenship laws. In Ottoman period citizenship has become official with the Tanzimat. And then in the Republic of Turkey period citizenship was reorganized with Turkish citizenship law. State of turkey offers other opportunities for citizenship outside the acquisition of citizenship by birth. However, there are some conditions for this. There are some provisions on the loss of citizenship, which are regulated by the Turkish citizenship law. All of these are identified in international and national sources, which are Turkish citizenship sources.
30 Dural, Mustafa & Öğüz, Tufan & Gümüş, Mustafa Alper, (2020) ‘Türk Özel Hukuku Cilt III Aile Hukuku’ 13. Baskı, İstanbul, Filiz Kitabevi, Sayfa: 83
31 Tanrıbilir, Feriha Bilge, (2008) ‘Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu Tasarısının Vatandaşlığın Kaybına İlişkin Hükümleri’ Türkiye Barolar Birliği Dergisi, Sayı:76, Sayfa:49
32 Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet Sayfa: 208
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Aybay, Rona & Özbek, Nimet (2004) ‘Vatandaşlık Hukuku’ 4. Baskı, İstanbul, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları
- Aygül, Musa, (2012) ‘Evlat Edinme Yolu İle Vatandaşlığın Kaybedilmesi Ve Kazanılması’ TBB Dergisi Sayı:99 Sayfa:46-80
- Bozatay, Şeniz ,(2010) ‘5901 Sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu’na Göre Türk Vatandaşlığının Kazanılması’ Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi, sayı:8 cilt:2 Sayfa: 165-182
- Dolunay, Ayhan, (2016) ‘Vatandaşlık Hukuku Temel İlkelerinin Türk Hukuku Ve Kıbrıs Türk Hukuku Açısından Değerlendirilmesi’ Türkiye Barolar Birliği Dergisi, sayı:122 Cilt:29 Sayfa: 369-416
- Dural, Mustafa & Öğüz, Tufan & Gümüş, Mustafa Alper, (2020) ‘Türk Özel Hukuku Cilt III Aile Hukuku’ 13. Baskı, İstanbul, Filiz Kitabevi, Sayfa: 83
- European Convention on Nationality, Strasbourg, 6.XI.1997 < https://rm.coe.int/168007f2c8 >
l.a.d. 12.04.2020
- Güner, Cemil, (2015) ‘The Acquisition Of Turkish Citizenship By Way Of Marriage’ The Macrotheme Review No: 4, (6), Page:157
- Işın, Engin, ‘Citizenship After Orientalism Ottoman Citizenship’: Keyman, Fuat & Icduygu, Ahmet (2005) Challenges To Citizenship In A Globalizing World: European Questions And Turkish Experiences, London, Routledge, Page:42
- Işın, Engin & Turner, Bryan (2002) ‘Handbook of Citizenship Studies’ SAGE Publications ltd, page: 105-106
- Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep, ‘Changing conceptions of citizenship in Turkey’: Bauböck, Rainer & Perching, Bernhard & Sievers, Wiebke (2009) Citizenship Policies In The New Europe, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Universty Press, Page:420
- Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep, ‘Dual Citizenship In Turkey’: Faist, Thomas (2007) Dual Citizenship In Europe From Nationhood To Social Integrate, New York, Routledge, Page:128
- Kirişci, Kemal, (2000) ‘Disaggregating Turkish Citizenship And Immigration Practices’ Middle Eastern Studies <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263200008701316 >
l.a.d. 31.03.2020
- Tanrıbilir, Feriha Bilge, (2008) ‘Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu Tasarısının Vatandaşlığın Kaybına İlişkin Hükümleri’ Türkiye Barolar Birliği Dergisi, Sayı:76, Sayfa:49
- Turkish Citizenship Law < https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4a9d204d2.pdf > l.a.d.
15.04.2020
- Turkish Constitution <https://www.anayasa.gov.tr/en/legislation/turkish-constiution/>
l.a.d. 15.04.2020
16- Yargıtay 10. HD. Esas no: 2010/8194 Karar no: 2011/15524 Karar tarihi: 21.11.2011
