Real estate agencies in Turkey say that the number of Afghans buying homes and property in Turkey has risen by 50 percent in the past six months, and the number of applicants to buy property has doubled.

The real estate agencies say that 70 percent of their clients are officials of the previous government of Afghanistan.

“In the early years, Turkish citizenship began with an investment of $500,000, but in the last three years foreigners can obtain Turkish citizenship by investing $250,000,” said Bolint Özden, a consultant with a real estate agency.

Investors and businessmen buy houses and property in Turkey to obtain citizenship.

“Our Afghans have mostly invested in houses in recent developments in Turkey, some have opened companies, some have opened restaurants, and many have invested from one lakh to one million, two million and even four million dollars,” said Omar Ahmadi, head of the Ahmadi Global Group.

The exact number of Afghans investing in Turkey in the housing and land sector is not clear, but the Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) says that in the past year 1,500 investors have gone to Turkey to invest.

“There is a problem--capital flight should not be taking place from the country. This is not in the country's interest,” said Khanjan Alokozai, a member of the board of directors of the ACCI.

Before the political change in Afghanistan, corporate advertisements on social media for buying houses in Turkey were widely reported, and most of the tourism companies in Kabul also provided ways to buy a house in Turkey.

“Seventy percent of travel companies do this when someone who buys a house gives a lot of money to those companies,” said Qais Sohrabi, head of a tourism company.