These are the nationalities who are prohibited from buying a property in Turkey

Many readers may be surprised at the title of this article. as They have become accustomed to Turkey, as a generous country with its facilitative laws and facilitative legislation in all economic sectors, especially the real estate sector, as Ankara has opened the door to foreigners who want to own property with bold decisions, the last of which is to reduce the value of real estate investment in order to obtain Turkish citizenship  to $ 250,000 in a move which is considered the first of its kind in the global real estate market, but every rule has an exception and every country has red lines that should not be crossed for strong reasons that preserve their interests, so we preferred to talk unusually about foreign nationalities that prevented from owning property in Turkey and the reasons for that and the purpose of the decisions taken in this regard.

The decision to prevent the purchase of property in Turkey was not limited to the countries that we will mention later in this article, because before the Turkish state relied on the principle of reciprocity in everything related to the real estate sector so it did not allow all citizens of countries that refuse to give the Turks the ability to own in its lands, from buying property in Turkey.

But then a smart move was made by Turkey, in order to strengthen various economic investment opportunities in it and also expanding its openness to the world, by a decision issued in 2012 to allow all foreign nationalities to own properties on its lands except for five countries whose citizens were prevented from buying property in Turkey for specific reasons, as follows:

Syria

One of the nationalities prohibited from owning property in Turkey is the "Syrians" due to a referendum dating back to the period of the French Mandate in Turkey and exactly to the year 1939 of the last century where all the property of the Turks in Syria was confiscated while preventing them from the right to dispose of them, which Turkey similarly met with the Syrian citizens present  on its lands, where it prevented them from owning properties and disposing of their property, a decision is still in place yet, despite the heavy presence of Syrian citizens on Turkish lands since 2011 due to the war conditions, they are still not entitled to own properties in Turkey, whatever its type directly.

Because of the large number of Syrians residing in Turkey, determined efforts are being made between the Turkish and Arab parties to overturn the ban, which if happened, will definitely push forward the movement in the real estate market and raise the percentage of real estate sales in Turkey  due to the heavy Syrian presence in Turkey over the past nine years.

Armenia

You ask why the Armenians are prevented from owning a property in Turkey. Al Huda answers your question which it's real reasons are due to a historical dispute between the two countries, as the mutual accusations between Armenia and Turkey over the war period between them, prior to the First World War, affected the nature of relations between the two countries in all political aspects.  And economic, including property ownership, which is still valid until now, as the historical incident is an issue that affects Turkish national security, and from here the Armenians continued to be prevented from owning properties in Turkey with expectations that the ban will not be lifted in the future due to the great sensitivity of this historical issue.

Cyprus

The reason for preventing the Cypriots from owning property in Turkey is due in turn to a historical dispute that started  in 1925 and it reached the peak in 1974 when the Turkish army tried to protect the rights of Turkish Cypriots in Northern Cyprus or as it is known to Turkish Cyprus, but this ban is eligible for abolition once the diplomatic crisis between  The two countries agree on the Greek and Turkish parts of Cyprus.

North Korea

The prevention of North Korean citizens from owning property is mainly due to Turkey's commitment to international covenants that impose UN and international sanctions on the North Korean state.

Cuba

In turn, the ban that’s imposed by Turkey on Cuban citizens is caused by international sanctions on the State of Cuba and Turkey's commitment to that.

Important note:

Syrian, Armenian, Cuban, Cypriot and North Korean nationalities, who already have Turkish citizenship or those with a second nationality who allows its citizens to own property in Turkey are excluded from the ban.

In conclusion, it can be said that Turkey's policy is heading towards more openness and the opportunity for foreigners to own property in Turkey are bigger in the context of strengthening efforts for a stronger economy, which indicates that in the future  even those nationalities that are prohibited from ownership for circumstantial reasons may have the ability to own property in Turkey  while including new nationalities in the list of prohibitions remains excluded.  Except in exceptional cases that affect Turkey's national security or sovereignty.