Turkey’s International obligations
6. Turkey acceded to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons in 2015,
however, is not a signatory to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
7. Turkey has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the
rights of stateless persons on the basis of other UN and regional treaties to which it is a
party. These include, among others the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (see article 24.3), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (see articles. 2.2 and 3), the Convention of the Rights of the Child (see articles 2,
3, 7 and 8) the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (see article 5(d)(iii)), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (see article 18), the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (see article 29). Furthermore, the
right to a nationality is included in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights.
8. Turkey is not a party to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness or the
1997 European Convention on Nationality. While the right to nationality is not directly
included in the European Convention on Human Rights, it does include provisions
relevant in the Turkish context, such as those on the right to fair trial (see article 6) and
on “no punishment without law” (see article 7), as well as private and family life (see
article 8).
9. In addition, and on the basis of article 29 mentioned under the CMW, in 2016, the
Committee on Migrant Workers recommended that Turkey ensure that all children of
migrant workers are registered at birth and issued with personal identity documents in
line with Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals and to accede to the 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1997 European Convention on
Nationality.5
National Law
10. Turkey’s nationality law No. 5901 (12/6/2009) is primarily based on the principle of jus
sanguinis, according to which nationality is based on descent, with additional provisions
based on the principle of jus soli, according to which nationality is based on birth on the
territory. The additional jus soli provisions grant Turkish nationality to children born in
Turkey but acquiring no citizenship of any State by birth through his/her foreign mother
or father; or a child found in Turkey is deemed born in Turkey unless otherwise proven:
Article 8 – (1):
‘’A child born in Turkey but acquiring no citizenship of any state by birth
through his/her alien mother or father is a Turkish citizen from the moment of
birth’’.
11. Turkey’s nationality law No. 5901 (12/6/2009) regulates the revocation of citizenship in
its articles 29 and 30:
5
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Concluding
observations (2016) CMW/C/TUR/CO/1
2