Events
The foreign national applicant applied to the Ministry of Interior (Administration) in order to acquire Turkish citizenship. Subsequently, he was given a residence permit for the purpose of acquiring property, as he took over the apartment whose title deed belonged to another person. In the Investigation Form prepared by the Provincial Security Directorate upon the applicant’s request for naturalization, it was emphasized that his life was not in accordance with Turkish customs. Thereupon, the applicant’s request to be granted Turkish citizenship was rejected by the Administration on the grounds that it did not meet the requirement of having good morals in the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901. The lawsuit filed by the applicant for the cancellation of the said transaction was rejected by the Administrative Court, and the appeal application was rejected by the Regional Administrative Court.
allegations
The applicant claimed that his right to respect for private life was violated due to the rejection of his request for naturalization on the grounds that he did not meet the condition of having good morals.
Court’s Evaluation
In the Law No. 5901, it is stated that foreigners can acquire Turkish citizenship with the decision of the competent authority if they meet certain conditions, and having good morals is counted among the aforementioned conditions. In the justification of the law, it is stated that the requirement for this requirement is stated that the applicant, who wants to become a Turkish citizen, does not behave in a way contrary to Turkish customs and social life.
It can be said that the condition of having good morals, which is required in the legislation for naturalization, has an abstract content, therefore, whether this condition is met or not should be revealed with concrete data specific to the applicant. Based on this, decision makers are expected to explain, with sufficient and relevant justification, the inconveniences that will arise in the context of public order in case of naturalization according to the characteristics of the concrete event, taking into account the diversity in life styles as a result of changes and developments in the social structure over time.
In the lawsuit filed for the annulment of the transaction, the Administrative Court included the findings regarding the outcome of the investigation conducted against the applicant and emphasized that it was fixed that the applicant had been in a relationship with a married person, who is a Turkish citizen, for 13 years. The Administrative Court decided to reject the case, concluding that the condition of having good morals was not met among the conditions for acquiring Turkish citizenship, since the extra-marital union in which the applicant lived was harmful to the family institution, which is under constitutional protection, was contrary to the national and moral values of the Turkish society, and this situation was not welcomed by the society. The Regional Administrative Court also rejected the application for appeal on the grounds that there was no reason to revoke the said decision.
The reasoning of the court of instance that the applicant did not meet the requirement to have good morals was specific to the fact that the applicant had been in a relationship with a married person who is a Turkish citizen for 13 years. However, it is essential to establish a fair balance between the public interest and the interests of the individual, by evaluating together the issues that the applicant has stayed in Turkey for a long time legally, and whether he has activities that would disrupt the public order in this process, and discussing whether the conditions necessary for naturalization have been met. It has been observed that no evaluation has been made on these issues, and that no research has been conducted in this direction by the court of instance as to whether the applicant fulfills the condition of having good morals.
Accordingly, in the concrete case, the interference with the right to respect for private life, which emerged with the rejection of the citizenship request on the grounds that the applicant did not meet the condition of having good morals in Law No. concluded that it is not.
The Constitutional Court decided that the right to respect for private life had been violated for the reasons explained.
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