To be admitted to the European Union (EU) Turkey has implemented reforms. The reforms particularly allow thousands of Turkish residents stripped of citizenship and expatriated to return and acquire citizenship.

Internethaber reports that the reforms particularly allow national minorities and people that left the country after the 1980 coup.

Thousands of Armenians and Greeks left Turkey after Armenian and Greek pogroms on September 6-7, 1955. Another 40,000 people left the country after the 1980 coup.