SEEKING NATIONALITY THE JUDICIAL ODYSSEY OF APPLICANTS • ADNAN WAS BORN IN LEBANON. HIS PARENTS ARE REGISTERED AS “UNDER STUDY”. He holds an “under-study” card. Adnan thinks that his ancestors are of Turkish origins who came to Lebanon in 1925. Adnan married a Palestinian woman registered with UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and the Directorate-General of Palestinian Affairs at the Ministry of Interior. He had 3 daughters. Adnan’s marriage and the births of his daughters were registered in the “understudy” records. Adnan’s brothers were naturalized by the 1994 Naturalization Decree. However, Adnan did not submit a naturalization request. Adnan’s lawsuit was submitted on ground of para 2 and para 3 of Decision No. 15/1925 on the basis of being born to parents with unknown nationalities and not obtaining a foreign nationality by affiliation upon birth. Lawsuits on Grounds of Article 1(2) and (3) of Decision No. 15/1925 in conjunction with Article 1 of Decision No. 2825 In Lebanon, there are tens of thousands of unregistered persons (Maktoum alQayd) of Ottoman origins. Many of them their ancestors were Turkish “citizens” living in Lebanon. According to the Treaty of Lausanne, any person who was a Turkish (i.e., Ottoman) citizen residing in a province which was separated from Turkey automatically becomes a citizen of the new created state where he is resident. People above the age of 18 were given the right to choose within the time limits and conditions the Turkish nationality or another nationality if they belong to a majority of the population present in the chosen state.44 According to the Ottoman Law issued in 186945 every person who lives on Ottoman territory is considered of Ottoman nationality until the opposite is proven. Decision No. 2825, which executed the Treaty of Lausanne in Lebanon,46 stipulated in its first article that any person who was an Ottoman citizen and lived in Lebanon on the date the decision was issued, on 30/08/1924 is automatically considered Lebanese and loses the Ottoman nationality, unless they opted for another nationality. As a result, anyone who proves that they (or their ascendants) lived in Lebanon on 30/8/1924, which In Lebanon, was part of the Ottoman empire, and who does not there are tens have a foreign nationality shall benefit from the of thousands presumption of Ottoman nationality and shall be of unregistered considered as meeting the first condition of Article 1 of Decision 2825. persons (Maktoum alQayd) of Article 13 of Decree No. 8837 organizing the census Ottoman origins. confirmed this rule. Hence, the refugees who came to Lebanon from Ottoman territory and who were in Many of them their Lebanon on 30/08/1924 are automatically considered ancestors were Lebanese and their children and spouses shall acquire Turkish “citizens” the Lebanese nationality automatically, by virtue of living in Lebanon. Decision No. 15/1925. Article 1 of Law No. 68/1967 refers to the term Maktoum alQayd (unregistered) exclusively to refer to persons who were not registered in the census and the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne applies to. Today, any person that prove that their ascendants were Ottoman citizen who lived on the territory of the “State of Greater Lebanon” on 30/08/1924, and that they did not opt for another nationality newly separated from the Ottoman empire, can file a nationality lawsuit before the competent civil courts47 requesting the declaration of their Lebanese nationality, i.e., to be automatically considered Lebanese. They may also benefit from the presumption of the Ottoman nationality by residing on Ottoman Empire territory on 01/11/1914 and resort to the civil courts in accordance with Article 10 of Decision No. 15/1925. Two lawsuits were filed on the grounds of these articles. However, the main problem facing these persons is providing prove of historic events that date back to around 100 years today, especially that the majority of persons do not hold any related documentation nor have oral history of their families’ origin, and there is no literature about them. Further, they have no access to official Ottoman documents, nor the courts attempt to obtain them for them even after the recent issuance of the law on access to information.48 SEEKING NATIONALITY | PART 2 FRONTIERS RIGHTS • JALAL AND HIS SIBLINGS WERE BORN IN LEBANON. His ancestors have been living in Beqaa for many decades before the creation of the State of Greater Lebanon. Jalal’s ancestors did not register in 1921 and 1932 censuses as they ignored the importance of the census. Jalal’s grandfather held an “under-study” residency permit but do not have copy of this document. They tried to obtain any documentation to prove their belonging to Lebanon to no avail. 52