An investor who chooses one of the financial routes to Turkish citizenship — USD 500,000 in a bank deposit, government bonds or SPK-regulated fund shares — needs accounts at a Turkish bank or licensed intermediary, and needs the investment placed and held for three years. Doing that from abroad is possible and depends on a document whose banking and securities clauses most drafters treat as an afterthought. This article sets out what representation in these transactions requires.
What the file actually involves
The steps are the same across the financial routes, with a different certifying authority at the end:
- tax identification number for the investor;
- account at a bank or licensed intermediary institution, plus an investment or securities account where instruments are to be held;
- transfer of funds from the investor's own account abroad, through the banking system;
- currency conversion where applicable, with the foreign exchange purchase document obtained;
- the investment placed — deposit, bonds, or fund subscription;
- blocking or an undertaking for three years, as the route requires;
- certificate of conformity from the relevant authority: the BDDK for deposits, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance for bonds, the Capital Markets Board for funds;
- then the residence permit and the citizenship application.
Each institution reads the power of attorney, and the securities intermediary reads it as strictly as the bank does.
The clauses the document must contain
Beyond the ordinary banking authorities, a financial-route power of attorney should expressly authorise the attorney:
- to open investment and securities accounts with banks and licensed intermediary institutions, naming them where known;
- to sign framework agreements and the risk disclosure and suitability documentation that capital markets rules require;
- to give and revoke instructions to purchase, subscribe for, hold and dispose of capital markets instruments;
- to subscribe for fund shares and to sign subscription documentation;
- to purchase government debt instruments;
- to place funds on deposit and to agree terms and renewals;
- to give the three-year undertaking and to arrange the blocking the route requires;
- to request and receive the confirmations, statements and certificates the certifying authority will need;
- to convert currency and obtain the foreign exchange purchase document;
- to apply to the BDDK, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance or the Capital Markets Board for the certificate of conformity;
- to appoint a substitute.
Two of these are habitually omitted and both matter. The suitability and risk documentation is required by capital markets rules before an investment account can transact, and an attorney without authority to sign it cannot complete the account opening. The three-year undertaking is the substance of the qualifying investment, and authority to buy does not include authority to commit.
Limits worth building in
This is a document authorising another person to move half a million dollars. Scope it deliberately:
- Name the institution and the instrument type where the plan is settled.
- Set a monetary ceiling matched to the investment.
- Exclude borrowing, margin trading and derivatives unless genuinely intended — a general authority over capital markets instruments is broader than the transaction needs.
- Consider an expiry date covering the placement period rather than the whole three years.
- Decide about ongoing management. Whether the attorney should be able to renew a deposit, reinvest a maturing bond, or switch funds is a real question — and for the bond route, where a maturity may fall inside the three years, someone must be able to reinvest so the holding does not drop below the threshold.
That last point is specific to the bond route and is the reason a purely transactional power of attorney can leave an investor exposed eighteen months later.
Compliance is the substance
An attorney presenting a well-drafted document to a compliance department has cleared the first hurdle only. The questions that follow are about the money:
- who the investor is, evidenced by passport and tax number;
- where the funds originated — sale of a property or business, salary history, inheritance, investment income — with documentation;
- how they will arrive, and from whose account;
- the purpose of the investment;
- expected activity.
Funds must come from an account in the investor's own name. Transfers from a relative, a company or a business partner create a source-of-funds question that is far harder to answer after the transfer than before it.
Assemble this file before the money moves. It is straightforward at the time and awkward six weeks later, when the certificate depends on it.
The document the investor must not leave behind
Where foreign currency is converted into lira in Türkiye, the bank issues the foreign exchange purchase document (DAB). It evidences that the capital entered the country as foreign currency, and it cannot ordinarily be created after the event.
If the attorney handles the conversion, the power of attorney must authorise them to request and receive it. An attorney without that authority may complete a perfectly good conversion and leave without the document — an omission that surfaces at the certifying authority months later.
What still requires the investor
Biometric enrolment for the identity card and passport, once, at the end. Everything before it — accounts, transfers, investment, certification, residence permit, citizenship application — can be handled under a properly drafted power of attorney.
Some institutions may also require a video call or direct contact with the investor as part of their own onboarding. This varies by institution and should be established when the bank or intermediary is chosen rather than discovered mid-process.
Frequently asked questions
Can my lawyer place the investment for me? Yes, under a power of attorney containing securities as well as banking authorities.
Will the intermediary accept a general power of attorney? Usually not. Enumerate the authorities and name the institution.
Who signs the risk disclosure documents? The attorney, if authorised. Without that authority the account cannot transact.
Can the attorney reinvest a maturing bond? Only if authorised — and for the bond route this should be considered from the outset.
Whose name is the investment in? The investor's. The attorney acts on their behalf.
Can funds come from my company? They should come from the investor's own account. Take advice before any other arrangement.
Do I need to visit Türkiye at all? Once, for biometric enrolment.
Draft for the whole three years
A financial-route citizenship file is not a single transaction but a three-year commitment with certification at the start and a holding obligation throughout. The power of attorney should be drafted for that period, not only for the day the money is placed.
Dural Hukuk drafts securities and banking authorities checked against the requirements of the specific bank or intermediary, prepares source-of-funds documentation, and manages certification with the BDDK, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance or the Capital Markets Board through to the citizenship application. Call +90 535 260 74 54 or use the contact form on this site.
This article is general information on Turkish law as at August 2026 and is not legal or investment advice. Institutional requirements vary; obtain advice before transferring funds.