of due process and non-discrimination, and protect everyone’s right to belief and opinion”.7 The continued renewal of the state of emergency, three years after the failed coup, is a matter of significant concern. 14. Further, Following the declaration of the emergency, amendments were made to the Constitution, minimizing the possibility for judicial scrutiny of decrees and government legal actions. For instance, Article 148 of the Constitution, which was amended, now provides that “presidential decrees issued during a state of emergency shall not be brought before the Constitutional Court alleging their unconstitutionality as to form or substance”. The result is that nationality deprivation decisions that are issued during the state of emergency cannot be challenged before the courts. 15. According to the Turkish Criminal Code - Law Nr. 5237 the crimes listed in the Decree 680 'Offences against National Security' and 'Offences against the Constitutional Order and Operation of Constitutional Rules' are not themselves punishable through the revocation of nationality. Further, it is important to note that those affected are merely under investigation for these purported crimes. Their failure to return to the country and surrender themselves to the authorities – known for widespread arbitrary arrests, detention and torture – may result in them being stripped of their nationality, even though they have not been convicted of any crime.8 In essence, Decree 680 penalises the failure to cooperate with a criminal investigation with the deprivation of nationality. 16. The UN Secretary General stated that, for the withdrawal of citizenship not to be arbitrary, “international law requires that it has a clear, non-retroactive legal basis; observes due process guarantees; serves a legitimate purpose; is the least intrusive measure possible to achieve that purpose; is in accordance with international standards; is non-discriminatory and proportionate”.9 17. Decree (KHK) 680 does not take into account the risk of statelessness, and contains no provision of any safeguard to ensure that deprivation of citizenship will not result in statelessness. It would therefore result in statelessness among the targeted group where such a process is applied to Turkish individuals that have only Turkish nationality and no other possibility to acquire any other nationality. Revoking the Turkish nationality of such individuals would render them stateless in violation of Turkey's international obligations. 18. It is also essential to note that this Decree is discriminatory both on the basis of political opinion and association, and because it only impacts on persons who are living outside the territory. In essence, it serves to keep those individuals in exile. The International Law Commission has stated that “a State shall not make its national an alien by deprivation of nationality for the sole purpose of expelling him or her”.10 Moreover, the Decree affects not only persons subject to investigation but also their families. Individuals who are at risk of being arbitrarily deprived of their nationality are likely to be unable to transfer nationality to their children, potentially resulting in the denial of the child’s right to acquire a nationality under Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights 7 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20394 See https://turkeypurge.com/ for updated information on the unfolding situation in Turkey. 9 UN Human Rights Council, Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: Report of the SecretaryGeneral, 19 December 2013, A/HRC/25/28, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/52f8d19a4.html. 10 International Law Commission, Sixty-fourth session, Geneva, 7 May–1 June and 2 July–3 August 2012, A/CN.4/L.797, draft article 9 8 4