28 december 2015
Vice-chairman of the parliamentary faction of Turkey’s major oppositional People’s Republican Party (CHP) Sezgin Tanrikulu has submitted to the Parliament of Turkey a draft law that envisages granting Turkish citizenship to the generations of people having been subject to deportations and having been deprived of citizenship for this or that reason since 1914.
According to haberaktuel.com, if the draft law is approved, citizenship will be granted to the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians who were deprived of their homelands during the genocide (those who are still alive) and their generations (until to the 4th generation). According to the draft law, citizenship of the Republic of Turkey will be granted to the citizens who lived in the territory of Turkey during the massacres and deportations.
As reports ermenihaber.am, the draft law also refers to the Armenians, Greeks and Jews who suffered from the massacres organized in Istanbul on 6-7 September 1955, as well as their generations.
If the draft law becomes a law, the Armenian Genocide survivors and their inheritors, as well as the Greeks, Assyrians and Jews having suffered from the massacres may appeal to acquire Turkish citizenship in case of presence of the following documents: the passport of the given period, church records, records of the funds and foundations of minorities, documents of the Ottoman Empire, as well as documents of the relevant authorities of host countries about emigration from Turkey.
Let us mention that the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) had submitted a similar draft law in February 2014, but it wasn’t approved by Turkey’s legislature.
http://en.hayernaysor.am
