Askerlik - Turkish Military Service

[bunkx 25]

Hey y'all,

I don't know how many of you have had to deal with this but here goes nothing... I came to the United States when I was about 16, on an F-1 visa. Been here ever since. I went to community college after high school to save money (btw highly recommended, saved about $15k) however according to Turkish law if you go a 2-year institution you can postpone your military service for 5 years. I am now in my last year of college, hoping to graduate in May 2017. I reapplied to postpone my military service, under the 4-yr institution = 7 year postponement law. Approved until December 2019. They sent me a piece of paper (Teblig-Tebellug-Taahutnamesi) saying that it was postponed until 2019, however on e-Devlet it still shows Dec 2016. If I had to travel to Turkey, would I get arrested at the border?

Also, my family lives in Belgium - hence I have little reason to visit Turkey. Not counting nostalgia and emotional reasons of course. What would happen if I simply never paid to waive the military requirement? Would it be worth renouncing your Turkish citizenship after getting US citizenship?

I'm pretty indecisive about this whole askerlik thing... Any help would be appreciated. Simdiden tesekkurler!

(Turkce de yazabilirsiniz - forum kurallarina uygun mudur bilemedim ben)

Edited December 2, 2016 by bunkx

[charmander 692]

I am not 100% sure on this but you may not be able to renounce the citizenship without completing the military service. Google in turkish renounce citizenship without military service, bunch of links come up.

My advice would be find a job after you graduate, complete requirements for the paid service, pay the 1000 euro equivalent in usd and be done with it. When I did this in 2009, I paid the 5000 euro equivalent which was $7000 by then and still went to Burdur to get the basic training. It is so much cheaper now, no need to renounce citizenship if this is the only reason.

For renouncing Turkish citizenship google "mavi kart", which is Turkish green card in a way. You will still be able to live and work in Turkey but won't be able to vote. That's about it.