Citizenship by birth and descent

Last updated 16 August 2026Legal review Bayraktar Attorneys2 min readCitizenship

The rule that answers most questions

Turkish nationality passes by descent. A child with a Turkish citizen mother or father is Turkish from the moment of birth, regardless of where the birth occurred and regardless of the other parent's nationality. There is nothing to apply for and no period to wait out; what remains is a registration, so that the status the child already holds appears on the registry.

For a binational couple this settles a question that generates a great deal of unnecessary anxiety: the children are already citizens, they do not depend on the foreign parent's own application, and a refusal of that application does not touch them. The firm's guide to citizenship by birth sets out the registration mechanics.

Children born outside Türkiye

Same rule, more paperwork. The birth is registered through the Turkish consulate in the country of birth, or at a population directorate in Türkiye, on the foreign birth certificate — apostilled and translated where it is not a multilingual extract. Do it promptly: registration years later is possible but requires more evidence of parentage, and until it is done the child has no Turkish identity number, which blocks everything from schooling to health cover.

Where the parents were not married

Descent still operates, but parentage must be established. Where the Turkish parent is the mother, that follows from the birth. Where the Turkish parent is the father and there was no marriage, paternity must be established — by acknowledgment before the registry or a notary, or by court judgment — and the child's citizenship follows from the date parentage is established.

The residual place-of-birth rule

Article 8 exists to prevent statelessness rather than to create a birthright: a child born in Türkiye who cannot acquire any nationality from either parent is Turkish by place of birth. It is not a general jus soli rule, and being born in Türkiye to foreign parents who can pass their own nationality to the child does not confer Turkish citizenship. Article 6 adds that a child found in Türkiye whose parentage is unknown is deemed to have been born in Türkiye unless the contrary is established.

Adoption

A minor adopted by a Turkish citizen may acquire citizenship from the date of the adoption decision, subject to there being no national-security or public-order obstacle. It is a separate mechanism from descent and turns on the adoption being effective in Turkish law.

What descent does not do

It runs downward, not upward or sideways. A foreign parent does not acquire Turkish citizenship because their child is Turkish, and a foreign spouse does not acquire it because the children are. Those are separate routes with separate conditions — see the routes comparison. Nor does it reach children from a previous relationship who have no Turkish parent: their route into Türkiye is a family residence permit as a dependant.