So far this year, 10,000 foreigners have become Turkish citizens after buying property worth $250,000

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Ankara has granted Turkish citizenship to some 10,000 people of various nationalities during the first six months of 2021 under recent legislation that entitles foreigners to bypass immigration restrictions by purchasing property in Turkey worth at least $250,000.

According to data released by Turkey's General Directorate of Land Registry, the combined total of those granted citizenship in 2019 – when the law went into effect – and 2020 totaled roughly 7,500 foreigners.

The number increased significantly this year, as reported by the Turkish Zaman news outlet.

Iranian nationals made up the largest proportion of individuals qualifying for the property exemption, followed by those from Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, China, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Pakistan, respectively.

In 2017 and 2018, when an earlier version of the law required that the value of the property purchased be one million US dollars to qualify for the program, only 70 people completed the process. 

Editing by John J. Catherine