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Turkey tightens security checks for acquiring citizenship amid allegations of irregularities

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A senior official from the Turkish Interior Ministry has denied allegations that Turkey had granted citizenship to foreign nationals including members of international organized crime groups by making the process particularly easy, adding that security checks for citizenship applications have even been tightened, the Türkiye Gazetesi news website reported.

Journalist Nuray Babacan, from the Gazete Pencere news website, was the latest person to bring up allegations of irregularities in Turkey’s citizenship application process. She said the allegations include some foreign individuals being granted Turkish citizenship with preferential treatment and in return for bribes although they failed to meet the necessary requirements. The journalist said this network of irregularities and bribery involves politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), with individuals including members of organized crime groups obtaining citizenship this way.

Opposition politicians also raise such allegations, accusing the AKP government of making Turkey a safe haven for international criminals by granting them citizenship.

The allegations have been denied by İbrahim Taşyapan, director general of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs under the Interior Ministry, during a meeting of the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Türkiye reported.

Taşyapan said his directorate is closely monitoring the citizenship application process and has increased security checks to include verification from INTERPOL for security clearances both during the application phase and shortly before the application is finalized.

Before a foreign national is granted Turkish citizenship, it is a requirement for the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the intelligence department of the Security Directorate General and the intelligence unit of the Directorate of Migration Management to conduct an investigation into the person. There is also a condition to communicate with the intelligence unit of the applicant’s country of citizenship.

Taşyapan stated it takes five or six months after routine investigations for citizenship to be granted. Therefore, the directorate communicates with INTERPOL once again before the application is finalized to make sure the individual is still not in a troubled situation.

He noted that it is sometimes “impossible” to obtain reliable information about a person’s criminal record from their country before the granting of citizenship.

“For example, someone commits a crime and his/her country reports it to INTERPOL. However, it takes time for INTERPOL to share this information with other countries. Meanwhile, due to such delays, it is perceived that this person is granted citizenship even though his/her crime was known before,” he added.

In 2018 Turkey lowered the investment criteria for foreigners to become Turkish citizens in a bid to boost investment in the economy. The regulations stipulated that foreigners can become citizens if they own property worth $250,000 for three years, down from a previous value of $1 million. The minimum investment necessary to obtain Turkish citizenship was increased to $400,000 in 2022 and $600,000 in 2024.

Law enforcement officers have conducted over a thousand operations targeting international criminal gangs, arresting thousands of suspects, since Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya took office in June of last year.

Some of the international crime gang members allegedly obtained citizenship during the term of Yerlikaya’s predecessor, Süleyman Soylu.

Soylu described the allegations against him as “defamation, lies and baseless accusations” in a statement last November.

He said it is legally and practically impossible for someone sought under an INTERPOL Red Notice to obtain citizenship or even a residence permit.

However, VICE World News reported in April 2023, citing European law enforcement officials, that Europe’s most-wanted drug traffickers are increasingly evading capture by becoming Turkish citizens.

European law enforcement officials, speaking to VICE, have grown concerned that criminals linked to large-scale drug trafficking are exploiting Turkey’s policy of issuing citizenship to investors while also taking advantage of the fact the country refuses to extradite its new citizens.

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