According to the Defense Security Service (DSS) Adjudicative Desk Reference, Turkish "[c]itizenship laws are based on Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution and regulated in Law 403 of the Turkish Citizenship Law of 1964" (United States of America 16 Apr. 2002).

It was reported in 1999 that "[i]f a Turkish citizen does not commit a crime causing him to lose Turkish citizenship, a Turkish citizen's Turkish nationality cannot be revoked" (Turkish Daily News 7 Aug. 1999). This report implicitly refers to Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution, which states:

No Turk shall be deprived of citizenship, unless he commits an act incompatible with loyalty to the motherland

Recourse to the courts in appeal against the decisions and proceedings related to the deprivation of citizenship shall not be denied (Republic of Turkey 17 Oct. 2001).

The Turkish Daily News noted in 1999 that according to Turkish citizenship law, Article 20, the "Turkish citizenship can be revoked with a decision from the Interior Ministry" (7 Aug. 1999). The Research Directorate was unable to obtain an official translation of Turkish Citizenship Law No. 403 dated 11 February 1964 (Republic of Turkey Feb. 1981); however an amendment to this law dated February 1981 stated, with specific reference to the Articles concerning revocation:

Article 6

The 25th Article of the Turkish Citizenship Law, No. 403, dated 11 February 1964, paragraph (a) of the first section has been changed as follows, paragraphs (g) and (h) have been added to the section, and a third section as follows has been added to the article.

a) Those who acquire the citizenship of a foreign state intentionally without permission.

g) Persons who engage in activities against the internal and external security or economic and financial security of the Republic of Turkey in violation of laws while abroad, or who have gone abroad by any means after having engaged in similar activities, and against whom it is thus impossible to begin a public trial or prosecute or implement a sentence in Turkey and who despite the issuance of a call to do so do not return to the country within three months, or one month during periods of martial law or extraordinary conditions (state of siege).

h) Those who reside abroad without interruption for seven years after acquiring the citizenship of a foreign state in any manner and who do not make any official effort or application to document that they have not severed their interest and ties to Turkey and to show their intent to maintain their Turkish citizenship.

During martial law periods and under extraordinary conditions (state of siege) regarding those who lost their Turkish citizenship in accordance with paragraph (g) a decision may also be made to apply Article 35, section (1).

Article 7

The 26th Article of the Turkish Citizenship Law, No. 403, dated 11 February 1964 has been amended as follows:

Article 26. Naturalized Turkish citizens who engage in activities against the internal and external security, ... or economic and financial security of the Republic of Turkey in violation of laws while abroad, of who have gone abroad by any means after having been engaged in similar activities, and against whom it is thus impossible to begin a public trial or presecution or implement a sentence in Turkey, and who despite the issuance of [a] call to do so do not return to the country within three months or within one month during extraordinary conditions, (martial law periods and war) may be deprived of Turkish citizenship by the decision of the Council of Ministers.

This judgement may also be enforced for those who are Turkish citizens by birth when Turkey is in war (ibid.).

An article concerning the Turkish Assyrian minority group noted that "the Turkish state [removed] the citizenship of many supposed Turco-semiteso [Turkish Christians without minority status]" and listed the names of 36 such individuals (Turkish Daily News 29 August 1996). The Turkish Daily News also noted in 2000 that 14,000 people had their citizenship revoked as one outcome of a 1980 coup attempt (12 Sept. 2000).

Several representative cases concerning individuals were found among sources consulted for this Response. In 2002, Turkish authorities carried out a 1951 order to strip Nazim Hikmat, "considered one of the greatest poets and authors in modern Turkish literature," of his citizenship (AFP 13 Mar. 2002). According to this report, the order was issued because of Hikmat's "left-wing ideas" and was carried out even though the author died in 1963 (ibid.).

In a case that received a great deal of press, Merve Safa Kavakci, a Virtue Party deputy to the Turkish Parliament, was denaturalized on 13 May 1999 following a decision by the Turkish Council of Ministers (AANA16 May 1999). According to one report of this case,

The Council of Ministers has decided on May 13, 1999 to denaturalize Merve Safa Kavakci... in accordance with paragraph (a) of Article 25 of the Turkish Citizenship Law over the statement sent by the Ministry of the Interior in 12 May 1999. ... Officials revealed that Kavakci took an allegiance oath to the U.S. on March 5, 1999 and became a U.S. citizen (ibid.).

Ankara Anatolia News Agency (AANA) reported that Kavakci was stripped of her Turkish citizenship on 16 May 1999 (9 June 1999). It was reported that the Council of State rejected her September 1999 request to not apply the Council of Ministers' decision (AANA 20 Sept. 1999) and her February 2000 appeal to the Turkish Council of State (Turkish Daily News 9 Feb. 2000). Several reports link the move by the Council of Ministers against Kavakci to her 2 May 1999 attempt to take her Parliamentary oath while wearing a headscarf (AANA 14 May 1999; Al-Ahram 30 Sept.-6 Oct. 1999; Hamilton Spectator 28 Nov. 2000). An article discussing Kavakci's case referred to statements by Virtue Party acting group deputy leader Abdullatif Sener who reportedly

said that the discussions on the headscarf issue have been transported into a special platform and reached a point where Kazakci's citizenship is being revoked. Sener continued: ... "that [Prime Minister Bulent] Ecevit ... is preoccupied with the Kavakci decree. This is a wrong stand; it is a political decision."

...

[He pointed] out that there are many citizens who deserve to have their citizenship revoked and that Abdullah Ocalan [please consult TUR34160.E of 4 April 2000] is one of them ... (AANA 14 May 1999).

A third case, currently under investigation, concerns Cem Uzan whose citizenship is "now under threat" (Hurriyet 22 July 2002) after it was revealed during a United States court proceeding against Uzan that he had both Turkish and Jordanian citizenship (ibid. 3 Aug. 2002). Reportedly, an investigation conducted by the Turkish Interior Ministry found that Uzan received Jordanian citizenship in 1999 (ibid.) without having given notice to Turkish authorities of doing so (ibid. 22 July 2002). The Research Directorate was unable to find reports stating the current status of this case.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Agence France Press (AFP). 13 March 2002. "Turkey Strips Leftist Poet of Nationality, 39 Years After Death." (NEXIS)

Al-Ahram [Cairo]. 30 September-6 October 1999. Gareth Jenkins. "Scarf Battle Rages On." http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/1999/449/re7.htm [Accessed 23 Aug. 2002]

Ankara Anatolian News Agency (AANA) [in English]. 20 September 1999. "Cabinet Move to Strip Kavakci of Citizenship Upheld." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0920 20 Sept. 1999/WNC)

_____. 9 June 1999. "Kavakci to Seek Annulment of Denaturalization Decision." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0609 9 June 1999/WNC)

_____. 16 May 1999. "AA Details Decree Revoking Kavakci's Citizenship." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0516 16 May 1999/WNC)

_____. 14 May 1999. "FP's Sener: Revoking Kavakci's Citizenship Political." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0514 14 May 1999/WNC)

Hamilton Spectator. 28 November 2000. Faisal Kutty. "Secular Turkey Harasses Muslim Women." (NEXIS)

Hurriyet [Ankara, in Turkish]. 3 August 2002. "Turkish Daily Accuses Jordan of 'Lying' About Uzan Borthers' Naturalization." (FBIS-NES-2002-0804 3 Aug. 2002/WNC)

Hurriyet [Internet version, in Turkish]. 22 July 2002. "Cem Uzan Said Could Lose Citizenship After Becoming Jordanian Citizen." (FBIS-NES-2002-0723 22 July 2002/WNC)

Republic of Turkey. 17 October 2001. The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey. http://www.tbmm.gov.tr/anayasa/constitution.htm [Accessed 22 Aug. 2002]

_____. February 1981. Turkish Citizenship Law, No. 403. Hosted by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. http://www.unhcr.ch/ [Accessed 22 Aug. 2002]

Turkish Daily News [Ankara]. 12 September 2000. "IHD Criticizes Coups in Turkey." http://www.turkishdailynews.com/old_editions/09_12_00/dom.htm [Accessed 23 Aug. 2002]

_____. 9 February 2000. "Supreme Court Rejects Kavakci." http://www.turkishdailynews.com/old_editions/02_09_00/dom.htm [Accessed 23 Aug. 2002]

_____. 7 August 1999. "Dual Citizenship Advocated for Turks Residing in Germany." (NEXIS)

_____. 29 August 1996. Jan Pacal. "What Happened to the Turkish Assyrians." http://www.turkishdailynews.com/old_editions/08_29_96/feature.htm [Accessed 23 Aug. 2002]

United States of America. Department of Defense. 16 April 2002. Defense Security Service. Adjudicative Desk Reference. "Turkey." http://www.dss.mil/nf/adr/forpref/country8.htm [Accessed 22 Aug. 2002]

IRB Databases

NEXIS

Unsuccessful attempt to contact the Embassy of Turkey, Ottawa

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International
Aybay, Rona.

An Introduction to Law With Special Reference to the Turkish Legal System

EUMAP

Europa

Findlaw

Foreign Law Guide

Hellenic Resources Network (HR-Net)

Human Rights Watch

Turkish Daily News

UNHCR

World News Connection