Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship

The concept of citizenship has changed dramatically since the term was first used in ancient Greece. Recent citizenship debates have focused on the implications of commodified citizenship and growth of the “golden visa” market as these new schemes raise ethical and consti...

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Main Authors: İ̇brahim Si̇rkeci̇, Deniz Eroğlu Utku
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Istanbul University Press 2020-12-01
Series:Journal of Economy Culture and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/jecs/issue/58626/837077
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author İ̇brahim Si̇rkeci̇
Deniz Eroğlu Utku
author_facet İ̇brahim Si̇rkeci̇
Deniz Eroğlu Utku
author_sort İ̇brahim Si̇rkeci̇
collection DOAJ
description The concept of citizenship has changed dramatically since the term was first used in ancient Greece. Recent citizenship debates have focused on the implications of commodified citizenship and growth of the “golden visa” market as these new schemes raise ethical and constitutional concerns. Paid-for citizenship schemes undermine the traditional notion of citizenship often marked by solidarity, rights and duties. Paid-for citizenship contradicts contemporary citizenship’s essential principle of equality. Therefore, the core challenge for Turkey and other countries offering paid-for citizenship is the unethical implications of distinguishing refugee/immigrant populations by financial capability in acquiring citizenship. While Turkey does not grant full-fledged refugee status to non-European people and limit duration of their stay in Turkey, Citizenship by Investment programmes offer the rich people –including non-Europeans- an opportunity to acquire Turkish citizenship. So, the new citizenship programme in Turkey is paving the way for discrimination based on the socioeconomic status of individuals. What’s more, this actually tends to push the citizenship concept into a narrow understanding despite the expansion of the modern citizenship concept towards more inclusive rights reaching beyond the boundaries of nation states. Taking this into account, this paper aims to illustrate the discrepancies between paid- for citizenship and refugee policies by highlighting the ethical questions arising from citizenship by investment programmes in Turkey.
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spelling doaj.art-08dc838aa6d842dc9649bcf611adc4242023-02-15T16:07:18ZengIstanbul University PressJournal of Economy Culture and Society2602-26562645-87722020-12-016236538010.26650/JECS2020-00654Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenshipİ̇brahim Si̇rkeci̇0Deniz Eroğlu Utku1Professor of Transnational Studies and Director of Regent’s Centre for Transnational Business and Management, Regent’s University London, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London, United KingdomTrakya University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Political Science and Public Administration, Edirne, TurkeyThe concept of citizenship has changed dramatically since the term was first used in ancient Greece. Recent citizenship debates have focused on the implications of commodified citizenship and growth of the “golden visa” market as these new schemes raise ethical and constitutional concerns. Paid-for citizenship schemes undermine the traditional notion of citizenship often marked by solidarity, rights and duties. Paid-for citizenship contradicts contemporary citizenship’s essential principle of equality. Therefore, the core challenge for Turkey and other countries offering paid-for citizenship is the unethical implications of distinguishing refugee/immigrant populations by financial capability in acquiring citizenship. While Turkey does not grant full-fledged refugee status to non-European people and limit duration of their stay in Turkey, Citizenship by Investment programmes offer the rich people –including non-Europeans- an opportunity to acquire Turkish citizenship. So, the new citizenship programme in Turkey is paving the way for discrimination based on the socioeconomic status of individuals. What’s more, this actually tends to push the citizenship concept into a narrow understanding despite the expansion of the modern citizenship concept towards more inclusive rights reaching beyond the boundaries of nation states. Taking this into account, this paper aims to illustrate the discrepancies between paid- for citizenship and refugee policies by highlighting the ethical questions arising from citizenship by investment programmes in Turkey.https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/jecs/issue/58626/837077satılık vatandaşlıkmeta vatandaşlıkaltın vizevatandaşlığın etiğicitizenship for salecommodified citizenshipgolden visasethics of citizenship
spellingShingle İ̇brahim Si̇rkeci̇
Deniz Eroğlu Utku
Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship
Journal of Economy Culture and Society
satılık vatandaşlık
meta vatandaşlık
altın vize
vatandaşlığın etiği
citizenship for sale
commodified citizenship
golden visas
ethics of citizenship
title Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship
title_full Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship
title_fullStr Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship
title_full_unstemmed Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship
title_short Ethics of Commodified (Golden) Citizenship
title_sort ethics of commodified golden citizenship
topic satılık vatandaşlık
meta vatandaşlık
altın vize
vatandaşlığın etiği
citizenship for sale
commodified citizenship
golden visas
ethics of citizenship
url https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/jecs/issue/58626/837077
work_keys_str_mv AT ibrahimsirkeci ethicsofcommodifiedgoldencitizenship
AT denizerogluutku ethicsofcommodifiedgoldencitizenship