The Turkish government has begun the process of revoking the citizenship of 687 foreign nationals involved in a scheme that used fraudulent property transactions to qualify applicants for Turkish citizenship.
Turkey grants citizenship to eligible foreign investors through its citizenship-by-investment program, with a minimum threshold of $400,000 and a three-year no-sale requirement.
Türkiye Today reports the scheme allegedly inflated the value of low-priced properties with fake appraisal reports that were followed by fraudulent sales designed to meet the investment threshold for Turkish citizenship. Investigators determined the suspects behind the scheme defrauded the nation of $52.6 million.
Authorities investigating the scheme detained 90 suspects and seized seven companies, appointing trustees to oversee them, and confiscated 1,045 properties, a hotel in the Aegean resort town of Bodrum, 15 vehicles, a yacht and 10 bank accounts.
Seriously?!?? Turkey???! No one in their right mind is clamoring to live, nor invest, in that 3rd world ghetto!