The Turkish government has acquired the right to revoke the citizenship of individuals suspected if, while abroad, they refuse to appear before judicial or investigative bodies within 90 days.
The appropriate authority was received by the government under the regime of a state of emergency.
Of the three recent emergency decrees, the decree No. 680 authorizes the Turkish government to revoke the citizenship of people who are subjected to judicial investigation or prosecution over charges of “disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state”, “armed attack and assassination of the president”, “crimes against the legislative power”, “crimes against the government”, “armed rebellion against the Turkish government” or “membership in an armed terror organization” under investigation but who remain abroad if they fail to respond to a summons to return to Turkey within three months.
Prosecutors will summon such Turkish citizens to testify. If they cannot be reached abroad, the prosecutor’s office will refer the case to the Ministry of Justice within a month. In consequence, the government will be able to revoke the citizenship of those individuals, who issued a “return home” notice in the Official Gazette, if they do not respond to the call within three months.
AKP’S REVOKING CITIZENSHIP INHERITED FROM THE 1980 COUP
In the aftermath of the 12 September 1980 military coup in Turkey, thousands of leftist intellectuals and political refugees faced a call of “return home” by the military junta in power. Chief of the General Staff Kenan Evren, who had assumed the post by leading the coup, carried out such Hitlerite implementations as “revoking citizenship” under the pretext of “treason” particularly against the communist and leftist intellectuals and individuals. Recent emergency decrees of the government have raised questions in the public opinion whether the current government has inherited such implementations regarding citizenship from the junta of 1980.
DILEMMA AND HYPOCRISY OF PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN
With reference to those 14,000 Turkish citizens whose citizenships had been revoked in the aftermath of the coup in 1980, the-then PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said “We invite our artists and writers, who immigrated Europe because of the obstacles before the freedom of impression, to return their homeland” during his visit to Germany in 2011. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) enacted a law in May 2009, repealing the law on Turkish citizenship dated 1964.
However, as the recent emergency decree shows, Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party is ready to revoke the citizenship of thousands of Turkish individuals abroad. In the aftermath of the failed coup, now, Turkey and its citizens are continuing to slide in a chaotic atmosphere amidst Erdoğan’s hypocritical steps.
