Türkiye revokes citizenship of 6,134 people who obtained it through investment

ANKARA, August 11: Türkiye’s Interior Ministry has revoked or cancelled the citizenship of 6,134 people who obtained Turkish nationality through the country’s citizenship-by-investment programme.

According to the Turkish Interior Ministry, the affected group includes 1,413 principal investors, while the remaining individuals are their spouses and children who obtained citizenship through the same applications.

The ministry said investigations identified suspicious or unlawful transactions involving 1,150 investors. Their investment eligibility certificates were cancelled, resulting in the loss of citizenship for 5,391 people, including their family members.

In a second phase, 263 investors were deemed unsuitable by the police and national intelligence authorities on grounds related to public order and national security. Their families were also affected, bringing the total number of citizenships revoked in this category to 743. Authorities said the action against this group was based on security assessments rather than allegations of fraud.

Turkish authorities said that since February 11, 2026, citizenship had additionally been revoked from 443 investors and their family members, totalling 1,358 people, following the cancellation of their investment eligibility. A further seven citizenships were revoked on security grounds.

Türkiye’s Justice Minister said that in a separate operation linked to the investigation, arrest warrants were issued for 90 suspects, of whom 72 were arrested across 16 provinces.

During the operation, authorities seized 1,045 properties, a hotel in Bodrum, 15 vehicles, a boat and 10 bank accounts. Judicial trustees were also appointed to seven companies.

Authorities are also investigating approximately 2.5 billion Turkish liras that entered Türkiye through the investment programme.

The Interior Ministry said the citizenship cancellations and revocations were carried out under relevant provisions of Turkish law. Under the law, if citizenship obtained through investment is cancelled, the spouse and children who acquired citizenship through the same application may also be affected.

Turkish authorities have also introduced several changes in recent years to the property valuation system used under the citizenship-by-investment programme to prevent citizenship from being obtained through fraudulent or artificially inflated property valuations.

The latest action is part of Türkiye’s broader effort to tighten monitoring, financial scrutiny and security screening within its citizenship-by-investment programme.