Change of name upon obtaining Turkish citizenship

 

Today we are talking about changing the name when obtaining Turkish citizenship, as the Turkish government approved Law No. 1353 regarding the application and acceptance of Turkish characters, which allows applicants to apply for Turkish citizenship to change their nickname or names to Turkish names with the possibility of keeping the old foreign name, But it must be written in the Turkish language, and this name should not exceed two words without writing any abbreviations. As for the nickname, it is a single word with no separation between it and the name, such as the presence of a sign or any point.

 

Change of name upon obtaining Turkish citizenship

The Turkish Nationality Law and its related system, which was amended in 2018, approved granting citizenship to investors inside Turkey through one of the following methods:

 

Real estate ownership:

That the foreign investor owns a real estate worth two hundred and fifty thousand US dollars, and not sell it for a period of three years.

Buying government bonds:

That the investor purchases government bonds worth five hundred thousand US dollars or more.

Work to employ fifty citizens in Turkey.

Cases of writing the name after obtaining Turkish citizenship

Complete name change

A foreigner who has applied for Turkish citizenship can change his full name, and this matter is optional and not obligatory.

 

Adopting the same name with correct spelling

These cases have increased during the recent period, as Turkish writing is very close to the spoken name, unlike the English language, which made applicants for Turkish citizenship correct some letters in their names so that they match the Turkish name.

 

 

keep the name as is

Most of the cases come in keeping the original name without any change to it when achieving some of the things that allow this matter and keeping the name as it is, as the name should not have another meaning in the Turkish language through the written pronunciation, such as that it constitutes an explicit abuse of pronunciation among the citizens of Turkey.

 

Situations in which the name is changed

The cases in which the name of the naturalized person is changed are related to his desire to do so, as there is a right guaranteed by law in Turkey for this naturalized person to change his name according to his desire, due to some factors that belong to this applicant for citizenship, and there are also some cases due to the difficulty of pronouncing the name in the language Turkish, here the employee amends the applicant’s name and changes some letters so that the name is easier to pronounce after his approval, and there are also some cases in which the change is forced, such as the name bearing a bad meaning in the pronunciation written in the Turkish dialect or a funny meaning such as the word diamond, which means a jewel in the language Arabic, but it means a table in the Turkish language, and like the word Sana means you in the Turkish dialect, and the word Alma means an apple in the Turkish language. Sometimes the applicant is forced to partially change the name when the name contains some letters that do not belong to the Turkish language and have nothing to do with them.

 

Advantages of changing the name when obtaining Turkish citizenship

This is related to the reasons that push the applicant for Turkish citizenship to change his name. There are some people who want to achieve the meaning of integration, and there are also those who want to create a different life with a new personality.

 

What are the legal effects of changing the name for the holder of Turkish citizenship?

The applicant for Turkish citizenship and needs to change his name must prove his identity at different departments, whether in banks, universities, government departments or embassies, by showing the name modification document that is issued by the Department of Souls and if he wants to display his identity in any country A foreigner must have attestation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy of the country he is going to as well in order to show the necessary documents.

Procedures for changing the name for the holder of Turkish citizenship

 

Practical steps to change the name

If a foreigner wants to change his name, he must go to the Civil Court of First Instance in order to open a name change case. As for those who want to change only some letters in the name, he must go to the Department of Souls within the state in which he resides.

 

Documents required to change the name

The foreigner must write a petition in which the old name appears, as well as the new name he wants to change to, accurately write the reason for the change and provide all his personal data in addition to attaching a copy of the personal identity and all of this is submitted to the souls.

 

Name change costs

It is difficult to give an exact figure for the costs of this process, but the total amount of the name change is 500 TL, without legal fees.

 

name equivalency document

This document is called the name equivalency and is given in the event that a person's name is changed after obtaining Turkish citizenship, in order to prove that all documents belonging to him before obtaining this citizenship belong to the same person after obtaining that citizenship.

 

 

Family names in Turkey

In 1934, Turkish law forced families to choose some Turkish nicknames for them, as they were attributed to the father before that. There are also many Arab-Turkish female names such as Aisha, Fatima, Khadija, Kubra, Bayda, Zainab, Nour, Maryam, Ruqaya, Umm Kulthum and Asma, and there are also some Turkish names. Others, such as Warda, Gul and Isle.

 

Arabic names also take a large space among males, such as the name Muhammad, Ahmed, Mustafa, Khaled, Abdul Rahman, Hussein, Aladdin, Farouk, Ali, Fateh, Anas, Taha and other well-known and frequent names.

Integration into the new country

When a person changes his name or changes his surname, he has been largely and unconsciously isolated from his history and past as well, and may also isolate from his old friends as well as his relatives. In the new homeland, this is for people who reside in that country, accept its nationality and have social relations with it, and this is a natural matter.

 

But when talking about the social effects on the family, the individual, or the children in the future, these repercussions are considered dangerous, as the family name is linked to the family’s legacy in Syrian society and is considered a cause for pride, especially in the ancient and well-known families where the child feels the difference between him and other children who have Relatives of the same surname.