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Turkish Opposition Seeks to Revoke CBI Citizenships, of Which They Claim There Are “At Least Half a Million” · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Turkey's nationalist opposition, IYI party has filed lawsuits to revoke citizenships granted through the country's citizenship by investment program, potentially affecting tens of thousands of new Turkish citizens.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: IYI Party leader Mousava Dervisoglu announced the party's legal action at the Ankara Administrative Court and the Council of State, Turkey's highest administrative court.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Dervisoglu warns that Turkey faces a demographic occupation by the government, as both the Turkish national identity and the Republic of Turkey face an existential threat.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Dervisoglu claims the program has enabled at least 500,000 people to gain Turkish citizenship over the past seven years.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says that foreigners purchased 309,000 houses during that period, and asserts that statistics suggest at least half of these house sales were in exchange for citizenship.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: The IYI party leader contends the program violates Turkish law and is unconstitutional.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: He cites Article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: 5901, which outlines conditions for exceptional citizenship grants.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: According to Dervisoglu, the principle of limited number means granting citizenship in exchange for foreign currency falls outside these conditions.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The party argues that the government implemented the program through a presidential decree, contradicting the Turkish constitution.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Dervisoglu emphasizes that the law must regulate citizenship conditions, asserting that, quote, no regulation can be above the law, end quote.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: The party has requested to intervene in a related lawsuit that the Union of Turkish Bar Associations filed at the 10th Chamber of the Council of State, challenging amendments to the Turkish citizenship law's implementation regulations.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: The IYI also aims to strip Syrian refugees of their Turkish citizenship.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Dervisoglu claims the government has granted Turkish citizenship to 238,000 individuals in violation of existing laws.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: The IYI Party aims to cancel all these citizenships, which they believe the Justice and Development Party granted unlawfully.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Dervisoglu expresses confidence in their legal standing, describing their lawsuits as extremely justified and based on concrete evidence.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Dervisoglu emphasizes that nobody should forget that Turkey Ayah is not a coupon land or Turkish citizenship a giveaway, adding that his party will never allow Turkey to become a refugee camp.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Amet Sener, managing partner of Smart Citizenship, says it is premature to determine whether this is a real threat to CIP investors.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: He points out that the quote, IYI is threatening to sue to revoke all new citizenships, but it has only provided a case number for its lawsuit against Syrian refugee citizenships, end quote.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: He says that there is no way of proving the CIP ones are in danger until we can access the relevant court files.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Hawker, managing partner of CIP Turkey, agrees with Siner's assessment.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: He says that this will never affect approved CBI applicants.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: There is a universal law when it comes to citizenship, and based on that, I don't think this is a serious lawsuit, but it is more of a political tool to leverage support.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hawker explains that the IYI, quote, lost some of their power after the election, and now they are just trying to create a bit of political headway by leveraging the CIP, end quote.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: He adds that this is more about the Syrian refugees, they just added the CBI to sound more neutral.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: This episode first appeared as an article by Ahmad Abbas on IMIDAily.com.
• 4:01
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• 4:07
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