What Additional Rights Arise After Obtaining Citizenship?

Turkish citizenship gives what neither a residence permit nor a long-term permit does: full political rights and rights under the Constitution. The rights after obtaining Turkish citizenship are determined by the Constitution and Law No. 5901, and the obligations and risks are recorded there too. Below is gathered what can be confirmed by the text of the laws: what exactly a citizen receives under the law, what they lose along with the status of a foreigner, and in which cases citizenship may be cancelled or taken away.

The material is for information and does not replace advice from a lawyer. Practical questions of the passport, pension, medicine and taxes will be covered in separate articles of the list.

Where the laws are published

The Constitution of Turkey was published in the Official Gazette on 9 November 1982 (No. 17863, repeat issue): mevzuat.gov.tr, Constitution No. 2709. Law No. 5901 on Turkish Citizenship was adopted on 29 May 2009 and published on 12 June 2009 under No. 27256: mevzuat.gov.tr, Law No. 5901. Citizenship matters are handled by NVİ.

Whom a person becomes: Article 66 of the Constitution

Article 66 of the Constitution says that everyone bound to the Turkish state by the bond of citizenship is a Turk, and that citizenship is acquired under the conditions set out in law and lost only in the cases set out in law. For someone who has obtained citizenship this means that they have the same legal status as other citizens, and protection against arbitrary loss is provided by law.

“Vatandaşlık, kanunun gösterdiği şartlarla kazanılır ve ancak kanunda belirtilen hallerde kaybedilir” (Constitution, Article 66). Citizenship is acquired under the conditions set out in law and lost only in the cases set out in law.

Political rights and the civil service

• Electoral rights. Article 67: every citizen who has reached eighteen has the right to vote and to take part in a referendum.
• The civil service. Article 70: every Turk has the right to enter the civil service, and no distinctions may be made on admission other than the requirements of the post itself.
• A deputy may be elected from every Turk who has reached eighteen (Article 76).

The law does not give these rights even to holders of a long-term residence permit: Article 44 of Law No. 6458 directly excludes from them electoral rights, the civil service, the military obligation and the duty-free import of a car. It follows that citizens have a military obligation, and a man who has obtained citizenship should find out the questions of military registration in advance, from a lawyer or the military recruitment office.

Property and the restrictions of Article 35

The restrictions by list of countries, area limit and special zones in Article 35 of Law No. 2644 were written for foreign natural persons. A citizen of Turkey is not bound by such limits, but the right of ownership still arises on registration, and all the general requirements for deals apply (more in the article on Law No. 2644).

Previous and dual citizenship

Among the conditions of the general procedure in Article 11 of Law No. 5901 there is no requirement to give up the previous citizenship. But how another country treats dual citizenship is determined by its laws, so this has to be checked with the consulate. More in the article on Law No. 5901.

Obligations and risks that remain

• Cancellation of the decision on false information. Article 31 of Law No. 5901: if the decision to acquire citizenship was made because of false information or concealment of important circumstances, the body that made the decision cancels it. Under Article 32 the cancellation takes effect from the date of the decision and extends to the spouse and children who obtained citizenship together with the person.
• Deprivation of citizenship. Article 29 allows deprivation of citizenship by a decision of the President in certain cases, for example for service to a state at war with Turkey without permission, or for voluntary military service in another country without permission. Such a decision takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette and concerns only the person, not their spouse and children (Article 30).
• Lawfulness of residence. The period counted for the application is lawful residence: it must be on a residence permit (Article 15), otherwise the application may be rejected.

What the law does not say

Law No. 5901 and the Constitution do not list which taxes, pension rights and social payments await a new citizen: these are determined by separate laws. The size of the investment for obtaining citizenship is also not stated in the law itself and is determined by a Presidential decision (more in the article No. 4). So we will cover the questions of pensions, medicine and taxes separately (questions 357–365 and 318–332 of the list).

Rights under other statuses

To compare rights under different statuses, read the articles “Rights without a residence permit”, “Rights after obtaining a residence permit” and “Rights with a long-term residence permit”. Look at property options in the catalogue.

Conclusion

After obtaining citizenship a person gains electoral rights, the right to the civil service and the right to be elected, and the restrictions of Article 35 for foreigners no longer apply to them, but obligations remain, including military registration, and so does the risk of cancellation of the decision on false information. Read the other questions of this section on the page “Laws of Turkey”.

The material does not replace advice from a lawyer. The information was checked against the texts of the Constitution and Laws No. 5901, No. 6458 and No. 2644 as of 21 October 2026.

Photo: Dosseman (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons; photos of the complexes are used with the site owner’s consent.