Real estate acquisition of foreigners according to Turkish Law

Real estate acquisition of foreigners is an important issue in all other law systems as well as in Turkish Law. Although the existence of the right of foreigners to acquire real estate is accepted as a rule, it is not possible for any government to accept it unconditionally. The constraint of these rights for foreigners should not be regarded as contrary to democratic principles because they can be restricted even for native citizens in favor of multilateral public interest. As a matter of fact, it has also been accepted in article 1 of the first protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights that property rights of foreigners can be restricted in case it is necessary in accordance with public or general interest, within the framework general principles of international law. This restriction possibility which has also been recognized by the international declaration of human rights is accepted by many other law systems as well as by the Turkish law system.Social and economic significance of immovable property constitutes the main reason for imposing restrictions to the issue of intrastate acquisition of real estate by foreigners. For this very reason, a detailed study of the stages which the subject of real estate acquisition of foreigners has passed through during the course of its historical development and a comprehensive approach to the historical resources of the subject is especially important. Investigation of the principles accepted by relevant comparative law and international law increases the importance of this study. In addition to this, examination of the recent changes in pertinent legal arrangements in Turkish law and the justifications of judicial decisions is also of great importance as a guide while handling the problems faced in practice.Until the regulation brought by article 35 of the Land Register Law amended by the Law no 4916, the denial of the right of foreign legal persons to acquire real estate in Turkey had received general doctrinal acceptance. Both in this law and in the Law no 5444 amending the Land Register Law upon the cancellation of the previous by the Turkish Constitutional Court, legal persons having the right to acquire real estate is confined to foreign incorporated companies.In addition, since foreign-capital companies' right to acquire immovable property is ensured by article 36 of the Land Register Law amended by the Law no 5782, the mentioned article and article 3/d of the Foreign Direct Investments Law which was in force before that article are also of significance. For this reason, articles 35 and 36 of the Land Register Law classifying foreign elements having the right to acquire real estate in Turkey as foreign legal persons, foreign incorporated companies and companies having the status of foreign investors have been studied in detail in terms of legal persons.