The Turkish authorities imposed on nationals of 10 countries to obtain an electronic visa to transit airports during their destination to Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela from Istanbul International Airport.

Turkey is considered a transit country to final destinations, and is among the most active countries in combating irregular migration, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

The Turkish authorities intensified inspections within the framework of international aviation rules due to the increase in the number of migrants heading to North America via Central and Latin American countries, taking advantage of air transportation offers via Istanbul, according to the same sources.

Last March, Turkish Airlines warned travelers to Latin American countries that “some additional controls may be applied in addition to the general rules.”

In this context, Turkish diplomatic sources reported that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has completed the necessary preparations to launch the electronic airport transit (transit) visa.

The transit visa was included in Chapter 24 of Justice, Freedom and Security in the negotiations to join the European Union, and it constitutes one of the criteria within the scope of the negotiations to liberalize entry visas for Turks to the European Union countries.

The sources confirmed that Turkey imposed on citizens of India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad, Somalia, Cameroon, Mauritania and Yemen heading to Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela via Istanbul Airport the requirement to obtain a transit visa, as of April 15.

The electronic transit visa can be obtained free of charge online from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “evisa.gov.tr” portal starting April 15, 2024.

Travelers must enter their personal information, residence address information and ticket numbers correctly when obtaining the e-visa.

Transit passengers at Istanbul Airport must also carry a printed copy of their transit visas.

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Turkey’s medical tourism revenues achieved $2.3 billion in 2023, ranking seventh globally in this field.

The Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement on Monday that the “Health in Turkey” electronic portal is the face of the Turkish brand in the medical tourism sector.

The statement explained that the Health in Turkey website includes 175 institutions operating in the medical tourism sector, with the number of requests to participate in the portal increasing day after day.

It added that Turkey ranks 7th globally in the field of medical tourism through 40 health institutions holding international certificates, which contributes positively to Turkey’s preference in the sector at the global level.

The statement stated that the countries of the Middle East, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan are at the forefront of the countries from which Turkey receives visitors for the purpose of medical tourism.

It confirmed achieving revenues of $1.9 billion from the health services sector in 2022, which rose to $2.3 billion in 2023 by receiving 1.4 million health tourists.

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The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) extended a hand of friendship and assistance to many countries around the world during the year 2023, through 1,326 projects and events in various fields.

TIKA, which was founded in 1992, has so far implemented more than 30,000 projects and events, 93 percent of which were after 2002.

Through these projects and events, the Turkish hand of friendship extended to the world from Palestine to Arakan, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to South Africa, from Mongolia to Latin America.

TIKA projects have contributed to strengthening Turkey’s presence in the field of global cooperation, as the number of countries in which it is active has reached 170 by 2023.

During the past year, 3,200 foreign experts benefited from the educational courses held by TIKA in various fields, while this number has approached 50,000 foreign experts since 2002.

TIKA was present in many natural disasters that occurred in 2023, in order to alleviate the victims, such as the earthquakes in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the floods in Libya and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In his speech, the president of TIKA said that they continue to implement projects in various fields around the world in line with the vision of the “Century of Turkey.”

He added that the Turkish agency contributes a major role to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

He stated that TIKA has completed the restoration of 140 archaeological monuments in 40 countries over the past 20 years, while restoration work on 6 projects is currently ongoing.

Regarding Palestine, Kayalar explained that they implemented nearly 1,100 projects in Palestine, in addition to conducting many campaigns to distribute humanitarian aid.

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The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) distributed winter tents to a thousand families affected by the earthquake in Herat Province, western Afghanistan.

Arafat Deniz, coordinator of TIKA’s office in Herat, said that the agency “had previously distributed food parcels to two thousand families affected by the earthquakes that struck Herat last October.”

Deniz explained that they recently “distributed winter tents to a thousand needy families in the villages of the Zindajan region” in the state.

He also pointed out that the agency has established “10 mobile toilets in the area, and we are working to provide more assistance.”

Last October, Herat Province was exposed to a series of strong earthquakes and aftershocks, some measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale.

The Taliban government announced that about 2,500 people lost their lives and thousands more were injured as a result of earthquakes and aftershocks in the region.

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Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the deportation of 42,875 irregular immigrants between June 1 and September 22 of this year.

This came in response to journalists’ questions following a Turkish government meeting in the presidential complex in the capital, Ankara.

He pointed out that 97,363 irregular immigrants were arrested since he assumed his duties in early June until September 22.

He pointed out that 105,488 foreigners left the country whose visas and residency expired.

He stated that the previous numbers do not include cross-border infiltration attempts by the Ministry of Defense, which numbered 70,796.

Regarding the countries from which most irregular migrants come, the minister stated that they are coming across the Iranian border from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

In this context, Yerlikaya reported that the Ministry of Interior will begin activating the application of mobile immigration offices throughout Turkey, starting next November 1.

He touched on the importance of the application by saying: “We will check people’s identities everywhere, including football matches. However, if we take a tourist or a foreigner who has a residence permit and does not have an identity card or a passport, we will not send him to the deportation centers. We succeeded in that through the application.” The experimental trial, which lasted 9 weeks in Istanbul.

He continued: “We need to move keeping in mind the zero error, because we are a tourist country.”

Regarding the workers in the mobile immigration offices, Yerlikaya said: “Our immigration experts and translators work at the center, who will provide communication with foreigners.”

In another context, Yerlikaya revealed a visit by Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov to Turkey on October 10.

He pointed to mutual cooperation between Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece to combat irregular migration by land and sea.

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Sunday, the death toll from the sinking of a wooden boat carrying migrants off the coast of Calabria, southern Italy, rose to 70.

The official Italian news agency ANSA said that search and rescue teams recovered the body of a child from the victims of the boat sinking on Sunday off the town of Cutro in Calabria.

The agency stated, “The body of a 12-year-old boy was found on the beach of Potrichello from the sinking of the wooden boat that was carrying 200 irregular migrants from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the rough seas last week.”

On Saturday, rescue teams found the body of another child, about 3 years old, in the waters off Kotro, according to the same source.

ANSA added that at least 16 minors died in the disaster, while at least 80 people survived.

Security reports estimate that between 27 and 47 people are still missing.

For her part, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is on an official visit to Abu Dhabi, denied reports that “her government may have hindered operations that would have saved the victims,” according to ANSA on Saturday.

According to the report, Meloni was considering holding her “next ministerial meeting in Kotro, the city where the disaster occurred, with the aim of focusing on the issue of immigration.”

“Melloni reiterated that the Italian authorities had not received a warning from the European border agency Frontex that the fishing boat in which the asylum seekers were traveling, which had been wrecked in rough waters, was in trouble,” she added.

“An investigation has been opened to determine whether rescue efforts were delayed due to negligence,” she added.

The death toll from the previous accident was 67, according to what the Italian Coast Guard announced on Wednesday.

The boat wrecked after hitting a coral reef in rough seas, according to Italian news reports.

The tragedy comes just days after Meloni’s right-wing government passed a controversial new law on migrant rescue in parliament.

The new law forces aid ships to make only one rescue attempt at a time, which critics say threatens to increase the number of drownings in the Mediterranean at the world’s most dangerous crossing for people seeking refuge in Europe.

The post Italy.. the death toll from the sinking of a migrant boat has risen to 70 appeared first on Move 2 Turkey.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) planted 102 seedlings in Afghanistan for the victims of the earthquake disaster in southern Turkey, on the 102nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

And a ceremony was held Thursday in the Turkish-Afghan Friendship Garden located in the Paghman area of the capital, Kabul, to plant 102 pine seedlings.

The ceremony was attended by the coordinator of “TIKA” in Kabul, Fadil Akin Erdogan, the representative of the Turkish Knowledge Endowment, Ali Karagoz, the representative of the Yunus Emre Cultural Institute, Huseyin Gungor, and the deputy mayor of Kabul Mawlavi Khaled Sejestani.

Erdogan said in a speech during the ceremony that “TIKA” has been planting seedlings in Afghanistan annually since 2010, and that the new seedlings are dedicated to the earthquake victims in southern Turkey.

For his part, Sijestani expressed his deep sorrow over the disaster of the earthquake in Turkey, stressing that his country shares the pain of the Turkish people.

On February 6, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, followed by thousands of violent aftershocks, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving huge material damage.

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On Saturday, Turkey sent 139 irregular immigrants with Afghan nationality to their country via an air flight.

The plane took off from Esenboga Airport in Ankara, heading to Afghanistan.

In press statements, the head of the Turkish Immigration Department, Savaş Onlu, said that this is the ninth charter flight they have organized since the beginning of this year to deport irregular migrants.

He explained that 8,571 irregular immigrants (of different nationalities) have been deported since the beginning of the year, indicating that the figure does not include the last batch.

In 2022, 124,441 irregular migrants were deported via scheduled flights and 237 charter flights.

Among them were 235 charter flights to Afghanistan and two charter flights to Pakistan.

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Turkish security teams have arrested 18 immigrants who entered the country illegally in Karaklar Eli, northwestern Turkey.

And security sources stated that the leadership of the gendarmerie forces in the state received a report about the presence of immigrants in the district of Kovchaz.

The sources added that the teams took action after receiving the report and seized 18 irregular immigrants.

The sources pointed out that during the preliminary investigations, it was found that the immigrants hold Afghan nationality.

After completing the necessary legal procedures, the migrants were taken to the Immigration Department in Pahlawankoy district.

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Turkish “good trains” have transported about 7,000 tons of humanitarian aid to more than 700,000 Afghans to help alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

With the withdrawal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, led by the United States of America, from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the arrival of the Taliban to power, the country suddenly found itself deprived of international aid in light of its exposure to a stifling economic crisis.

6 trains (trains of goodness) arrived in Afghanistan, loaded with tons of humanitarian aid for the Afghan people, to contribute to addressing the acute humanitarian crisis, in line with the directives of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the coordination of the Ministry of Interior and the Presidency of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), and with the support of Turkish non-governmental organizations.

About 7 thousand tons of aid were distributed in 34 Afghan provinces containing winter clothes, blankets, flour, sugar, oil, pasta, legumes and tomatoes to support tens of thousands of needy families.

A wide range of orphanages, schools, places of worship and hospitals were also provided with humanitarian aid and other materials such as stationery, carpets, wheelchairs, medicines and health supplies.

Boxes of aid have also been delivered to hundreds of Afghan families affected by earthquakes and floods in the country during the summer months.

The aid was distributed to needy Afghan families under the supervision of the Turkish Embassy in Kabul and with the coordination of Turkish institutions operating in Afghanistan such as AFAD, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the Turkish Knowledge Endowment, the Turkish Red Crescent and the Afghan Red Crescent, in the presence of representatives of Turkish institutions at each distribution point.

Ankara’s ambassador to Kabul, Jihad Arkinay, said: Turkey will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

He stressed that Afghanistan is suffering from a severe humanitarian crisis, which prompted Turkey to send shipments of humanitarian aid through “trains of goodness.”

He appealed to international organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and non-governmental organizations to contribute to alleviating the negative effects of the humanitarian crisis suffered by the Afghan people.

Arkinay pointed out that Turkey is actively contributing to the efforts made by the international community to meet the needs of the Afghan people, and that the six “good trains” have provided direct humanitarian and food aid to between 70 and 75 thousand families, or between 700 and 750 thousand people.

Arkinay stated that expectations indicate that the current winter will be the harshest in years, stressing the importance of responding to calls for humanitarian aid launched by international institutions for the benefit of the Afghan people.

He stressed that Afghanistan needs urgent assistance in all fields, and said that the people in Afghanistan express at every opportunity their gratitude for the Turkish aid, which occupies the forefront.

He continued, “It is important that these assistance activities continue in the coming period, because statistics show that, unfortunately, the majority of the population lives below the poverty line.”

And he added, “Malnutrition has become a very important problem in Afghanistan, especially among children and mothers, which increases pressure on hospitals and creates many needs in the health system. We are trying to help in this field as well.”

Arkinay stated that Turkey has also provided urgent aid to Ataturk Children’s Hospital in Kabul, which is the second largest children’s hospital in Afghanistan.

Arkinay said that the Turkish teams faced many difficulties in delivering aid inside Afghanistan because of the rough roads.

And he added, “But we overcame all these problems and tried as much as possible to reach remote places and villages that had not received aid before.”

He concluded by saying, “However, humanitarian aid activities in Afghanistan are still not sustainable. To rise again, the Afghan people need real efforts by the international community.”

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