File No. 18150/4.
Chargé Einstein to the Secretary of State.
Constantinople, August 11, 1909.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the department’s instruction No. 532, of the 14th ultimo, concerning passport regulations in respect to former Ottoman subjects reentering Turkey.
I beg to state in reply that the Ottoman law of nationality of 1869 still remains in force unamended. According to Article V of this, if an Ottoman subject “should acquire a foreign nationality without being authorized by the Imperial Ottoman Government his (or her) new nationality shall be considered as null and void, and he (or she) shall be treated exactly as Ottoman subjects are treated. In any case the abandonment by an Ottoman subject of his (or her) nationality depends on a document to be granted in virtue of an imperial iradé.”
Article VI states, “If the Ottoman Empire should so wish it can reject from its subjection the person who without authorization from the Imperial Ottoman Government changes his nationality in a foreign country or enters into the military service of a foreign government. The return into the imperial dominions (the Ottoman Empire) of persons of this category whose nationality has been rejected is forbidden.”
It would appear from the above texts that in no case is the foreign naturalization of an Ottoman subject recognized by the Ottoman Government unless such Ottoman subject should previously have obtained special authorization; and that in case an Ottoman subject should change his Ottoman nationality the Ottoman Government reserves the right to reject him from its subjection in which case the return of such person into Turkey is forbidden. In practice under the old regime and before July 24, 1908, passport regulations were enforced very strictly. Every difficulty was raised when an Ottoman subject wished to obtain a passport to leave the country—more especially in the case of Turks and Armenians, and in case such Ottoman subjects were able to obtain foreign naturalization, whether they were specially rejected from Ottoman subjection or not, their entry in Turkey was prohibited by administrative police measures. For many a naturalized American citizen of Ottoman origin, the embassy had to work patiently for days to obtain special permission as a favor to enable him to visit the country for a limited period of time.
With the proclamation of the constitution all these formalities were greatly relaxed. In the first place, the formalities for an Ottoman subject who wishes to obtain a passport to travel abroad have been reduced to being almost nominal. He can go personally or send his paper of identity to the bureau of passports and there ask for a passport which is granted without any other formality except the payment of the fee. As to those who enter or reenter Turkey, they should have passports duly viséed by some Ottoman consul. If they are not bearers of such passports, in practice, their entry is not forbidden but a fine is imposed. Many naturalized citizens of Ottoman origin have returned to Turkey of late, some bearing viséed passports, others stating that the Ottoman consul had refused to visé their passports. [Page 562] In Constantinople they have no difficulty, and in a large number of cases our consulate general has applied and obtained for them traveling permits for the interior in which permits they are described as American citizens, and the embassy is not aware that any of them have met with trouble in the Provinces. But so long as the law of 1869 remains unamended, however, and we do not have a special naturalization convention, the embassy is not in a position to state whether the actual practice will continue as at present.
I think that it will be in the interest of American citizens of Ottoman origin to know that the Ottoman constitution has not suppressed or modified the former law of nationality. That although under a constitutional Government wishing to respect personal liberty and freedom of travel, many such citizens have reentered Turkey as easily as they would enter any free civilized country, yet they are still considered by the Government of this country as Ottoman subjects; and that in case they incur litigations with Ottoman subjects or questions of ownership or inheritance of property are raised, the Ottoman authorities will not consider them as American citizens.
I have, etc.,