Turkey Bars Greeks from Buying Real Estate

Turkey expects a lot of foreign interest in its estate market, but is imposing restrictions on investments from neighboring countries, including Greece. According to recently announced reciprocity regulation, Greek citizens are prohibited from buying estate on the coastal provinces including Istanbul. Also barred are citizens from Syria, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Bulgaria and North Korea, although citizens of 183 other countries are allowed into the Turkish market.
Citizens of Greece are also prohibited from owning Turkish property and lands in the province of Edirne, which borders Greece. There is no such limitation for “Turks in the Greek region of western Thrace in Greece,”said the Turkish Hurriyet Daily, adding that Citizens of Turkish Cyprus have the same rights to purchase property as Turkish citizens.
“Greek citizens were not allowed to purchase property in the coastal band around Turkey according to the previous regulation. And if a Greek inherited property in the coastal band, that person was asked to liquidate it within one month, as they are not eligible to own any property there,” Atilla Lök, an Istanbul-based lawyer with expertise in property cases said.