Turkey strips thousands of foreign nationals of citizenship in crackdown on property fraud

Turkey has revoked the citizenship of 6,134 foreign nationals following investigations into fraudulent real estate transactions, forged property valuations, and security concerns. The mass denaturalisation campaign has seen 72 suspects arrested across raids conducted in 16 provinces throughout the country.The citizenship revocations form part of a broader Turkish government effort to combat what officials describe as illicit financial schemes involving property dealings. Investigators determined that many of the affected individuals had obtained Turkish citizenship through questionable means, including transactions involving fictional real estate sales and manipulated asset valuations.Turkish authorities have indicated that security considerations also played a role in the decision to strip citizenship from the foreign nationals involved. The raids targeting suspected organisers and facilitators of these schemes have been coordinated across multiple regions, reflecting the scale of the government’s response.The move represents one of Turkey’s most extensive citizenship revocation campaigns in recent years. Individuals holding Turkish citizenship obtained through property investment programmes—a scheme that has attracted international interest as a pathway to citizenship—may find themselves under increased scrutiny as Ankara tightens its oversight of such arrangements.

Source: Maariv — Original article in Hebrew.