Turkey offers citizenship to foreigners with deep pockets
To attract much-needed foreign currency to the country, Ankara is offering Turkish citizenship to wealthy foreigners, but given Turkey’s gloomy economic and political outlook, the plan may lead to disappointment.
ANKARA, Turkey — On Jan. 12, Turkey’s official gazette published a government decree on granting citizenship to foreigners who bring in large sums of foreign currency, a plan that Ankara had long been considering.
The decree, which amends rules on the implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law, puts a price tag of at least $1 million on citizenship. Approved also by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the amendment describes the eligible foreign nationals as follows:
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Those who buy an immovable property worth at least $1 million and pledge — through an annotation onto the title deed — not to sell it for at least three years.
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Those who the Economy Ministry has ascertained to have made a fixed investment of at least $2 million.
