Turks anywhere in the world must complete their 15-month military service. If they did not do this before, their Turkish nationality would lapse or they would have to buy away that right. They no longer lose their Turkish nationality, but if they do not surrender their military service and do not want to serve, this will have a significant impact on their stay in Turkey. It is no longer unlimited. Buying off military service was initially very expensive, but that amount has now been significantly reduced. And buying off the Turkish military service has become easier.
Turks buy off their military service
Conscription is of great importance in Turkey. Young men are mainly trained to fight against the PKK, the extremist Kurds. Turks have to serve for 15 months and in that case they often fight against the PKK. This often involves casualties, so joining the Turkish army is often more than just a bit of practice.
Turkish nationality and living in Turkey
Able men in Turkey have to serve and that takes 15 months. Anyone who has Turkish nationality and lives in Turkey is called up at the age of 19 to serve at the age of twenty. For someone who is studying, military service is postponed until after completing their studies. Anyone who, as a Turk, is staying abroad during the period in which he or she is supposed to perform military service can postpone this until he/she has reached the age of 38 at the latest. Anyone who does not want to serve in the Turkish service at all can buy off this obligation.
No longer losing Turkish nationality, but limited travel
Turks in the Netherlands can have both Dutch and Turkish nationality. But in order to retain Turkish nationality, they had to fulfill Turkish military service. If they did not do so, they would lose their Turkish nationality and the associated rights. But because most Dutch Turks did not or do not have time to go to Turkey for 15 months to serve there, they were also allowed to buy out the service. The rule has now been abolished that they lose their Turkish nationality if they have not been in service and have not bought out their service. What has replaced this is a residence rule. Anyone who has not purchased or completed the Turkish military service may only stay in Turkey for a maximum of 6 months per year. Anyone who wants to stay in Turkey longer must still complete compulsory military service or buy out the obligation.
Conditions for commuting from Turkish military service
A number of rules have been set for commuting Turkish military service:
- The applicant lives abroad at the time of the application
- The person in question has worked abroad for at least 3 years. This was previously a 15 year stay. In the Netherlands this can be demonstrated with data from the UWV
- The applicant must have a valid residence document in the country of application.
- Citizens who are over 39 and have not yet completed or surrendered their military service can also benefit from the scheme by paying 1000.
The fear: buying off Turkish military service will become twice as expensive
Until the end of November 2011, Turks had to pay a pretty penny to buy out their military service, namely 5,112 euros. The Turkish government also announced that year that this amount would be doubled. Many Turks did not want to serve and therefore took the opportunity to buy off their military service for 5,000 euros. But that did mean that they sometimes had to queue for more than 20 hours at the consulate in Rotterdam or Deventer to arrange this. The opposite has now been proven. In 2017, Turkish Dutch people only pay 1,000 euros to buy off their military service. Anyone who has paid a much higher amount is out of luck and will not get that amount back.
No more shortened military training in Turkey if conscription is surrendered
Anyone who paid the 5,000 euros previously also had to follow a shortened military training of 21 days in Turkey in order to retain their Turkish nationality. That obligation no longer exists.