My grandfather had an Ottoman identity… Can I get Turkish citizenship?

In fact, there are different ways for foreigners to obtain Turkish citizenship.

At the moment, obtaining it through investment - which I have written about in many opinion articles so far - is one of the most popular options in the Arab world.

Foreigners who have lived in Turkey for 5 consecutive years are entitled to apply for Turkish citizenship, provided that they meet some other requirements.

My grandfather had an Ottoman ID, and was supposed to be a Turkish citizen.

However, for whatever reason, my grandfather immigrated to another Arab country that was established after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and then became a citizen of it.

After that, all his heirs, like my father, became citizens of that country and were not registered in Turkey as Turkish citizens.

This is called “applying for citizenship in general,” which I previously wrote a comprehensive editorial about.

Putting aside these well-known options;

There is also another way to obtain Turkish citizenship, and that is through paternity.

This means that if one or both of the parents are Turkish citizens, the son or daughter will be entitled to automatically acquire Turkish citizenship through one or both of his/her parents.

On the other hand, in the event that a person’s nationality is not registered for any reason until he reaches the age of 18, that person should apply to the Turkish authorities to claim his nationality retroactively and prove that he was supposed to be a Turkish citizen after his birth, but it did not happen record it. In fact, this rule is of interest to many Arabs today who are wondering if they could obtain Turkish citizenship through their Ottoman ancestors.

There are no specific regulations in Turkish laws such as “obtaining citizenship through the Ottoman ancestors”. And if there was such an option, it would actually be just a more complicated way to obtain citizenship through paternity, which was explained above. In general, the following example can be adopted to illustrate this “My grandfather had an Ottoman identity, and he was supposed to be a Turkish citizen. However, for whatever reason, my grandfather immigrated to another Arab country that was established after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to become a citizen there. After that, All his heirs, like my father, became citizens of that country and were not registered in Turkey as Turkish citizens.

In the event that my father can claim his right to obtain Turkish citizenship through his father (grandfather);

I will be able to claim the same right through my father.

It should be noted that this assumption has some advantages.

For this reason, we receive a lot of questions from people who have hope of obtaining Turkish citizenship through their Ottoman ancestors.

On the other hand, it is not easy to make this assumption a reality, otherwise hundreds of millions of people who currently live in dozens of countries - which were once Ottoman lands - will obtain Turkish citizenship, which is of course illogical.

This is the reason why there is very little chance of obtaining Turkish citizenship through the Ottoman ancestor.

This can only happen if the following conditions are met:

• Your Ottoman predecessor in question obtained the citizenship of the Turkish Republic after its establishment in 1923 or was at least registered in the records of the general Ottoman population census conducted in 1905.

• Proving either of these options with official documents, which in practice is very difficult.

  To find such official evidence, one might have to look at the Ottoman archives in Turkey.

  Accessing the Ottoman archives and conducting research there is extremely troublesome and requires expert support.

• The applicant must submit all relevant documents such as birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates from his country to prove his family ties with the respective Ottoman ancestor.

  Moreover, the Turkish authorities should officially verify and translate these documents.

  Because of the strict requirements mentioned above, the possibility of success in an attempt to obtain Turkish citizenship through an Ottoman ancestor is very slim.

• Applicants are usually not able to collect all the required documents. Moreover, sometimes collecting the required documents may not be sufficient, and the nature of some documents may need to be proven through a court case to the Turkish courts. In the event that the applicant succeeds in one way or another in collecting all the required documents, and if the contents of those documents prove - beyond a reasonable doubt - family ties; The concerned Ottoman ancestor and all his/her heirs down to the applicant who was supposed to be a Turkish citizen in the past; They will be retroactively registered as deceased Turkish citizens. After that, the formation of the family tree will fall from the relevant Ottoman ancestor all the way to the applicant. As a result of this series, the applicant will eventually be able to apply for Turkish citizenship.