Name Choice in Turkish Citizenship Applications

The Turkish Citizenship by Investment program provides applicants with the chance to change their name to a Turkish name. Applicants can either;

1. Change their name to a Turkish name or
2. Keep their names as they are (Note that there may be some adjustments needed to the original names in order to meet law requirements)
3. A Name Change to Turkish

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Applicants may adopt the Turkish versions of their original name. For example, a client named

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“MOHAMED / ABDELQADR” can get the name “MUHAMMET / ABDULKADİR”.

Please note that applicants do not have to change both their name and surname to Turkish. It is possible to keep their original forename and take a Turkish surname, and vice versa. Therefore, the above-mentioned client can also have the name

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“MOHAMED / ABDULKADİR” or “MUHAMMET / ABDELKADR”.

It is also possible to take up to three names such as “MUHAMMET ALİ EMRE / ABDULKADİR”. Please note that if the applicant decides to take more than one given name, it will be considered a name change, and a name change is only possible if all names are Turkish. For example, “MOHAMED ALİ EMRE / ABDULKADİR” cannot be taken because not all names are Turkish.

2. Keeping Original Names

Applicants may also prefer to keep their original names. In this case, there are situations where the applicant and their family may have to make some adjustments to their original name because some letters in foreign alphabets do not exist in the Turkish alphabet. For example, the name “GWEN / MCKEE” can only be kept if adjusted to “GVEN / MCKEE”. The reason behind this adjustment is that in the Turkish alphabet there is no letter “W”. Or the name ALI / ELQADR can only be kept if adjusted to “ALI / ELKADR”. The other option for these applicants is to choose a Turkish name and/or surname.

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If the applicant has more than one surname, the latter will be considered as the surname in applications. Such as,

“LEILA / MOHAMED TAREQ BINNASR” ————> “LEILA MOHAMED TAREK / BINNASR”

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Please note that the names MOHAMED and TAREK can be dropped as well. (“LEILA / BINNASR”)

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In situations where the applicant has a hyphen (-) in their surname such as “ABDULLAH / EL-MULAIM”, the application should be made as “ABDULLAH / ELMUALIM”. Please note that adopting a Turkish name is always an option.

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Due to Turkish Law requirements, all family members must have the same surname which will be the husband/father’s surname, meaning that female applicants must take their husband’s surname, and children must take their fathers’ surname in their applications. Please note that after the citizenship approval, female applicants can declare that they wish to take their own surnames instead of their husbands in their appointment for their Turkish ID Card application.

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