Turkish authorities decided to count all Russians

We asked why special attention is paid to us, what exactly will be checked with the Russians and what threatens our tourists and relocators.

“All 46 previously detained on suspicion of a terrorist attack on Istiklal Street are foreigners” – this is how the Turkish media justify the tightening of checks on all guests of their country.

– But it has already become clear that the explosion was arranged by a Syrian, and what does the Russians have to do with it? – on condition of anonymity, we are interested in a representative of the Turkish authorities.

– Yes, but other 46 citizens of different countries were suspected for a reason. These are people who in one way or another violate the regime of stay in our country or even the law. In such situations, it is important that dubious individuals who have already been caught for violations are “on the pencil” of the gendarmerie. For this, we need a census of all foreigners who are on our territory, with the inclusion in a separate list of all those who have already violated something, albeit not seriously so far.

– And how many Russians are on this black list?

“We are still in the process of drafting. For this purpose, we have created a special bureau for foreigners, otherwise the gendarmerie does not have enough hands. The bureau will unite law enforcement officers, passport and customs control at air, sea and land borders, municipalities, border guards, visa centers and all other authorities involved in the admission and accommodation of foreigners in Turkey. Tour operators will also pay attention. All information about foreigners in Turkey will be consolidated into a single file. Unfortunately, even in the unfinished list of Russians there are already quite a few. But they are not alone there, there are also Ukrainians, Afghans and Syrians.

– I heard that Iranians are in second place in terms of the number of relocators after the Russians. Are they breaking anything?

– This refers to the last and largest wave of migration associated with the events in the homelands of these people. Russians and Ukrainians have been constantly coming to us since March, and the Afghans started a little earlier, when the Taliban came to power (the Taliban is recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation, banned – “MK”). A new wave of refugees and relocators is always more likely to violate the stay regime for visa extensions, registration, and so on. And the Iranian diaspora has been living in Turkey for a very long time, everything has long been legalized. And if someone is new and moves from Iran to us, then not by himself, but to relatives, to a family, to a clan. And this makes it easier for our authorities to control them. And in general, the Iranians are law-abiding.

We ask Russian relocators if they have heard anything about new checks with a “special predilection” for immigrants from Russia?

“Yes, we heard that all Russians should be counted without exception and a separate file will be filed for each,” answers the father of a family from Moscow, which has been establishing a new life since the end of September in the area of ​​the Turkish resort of Kemer. – There were checks before, but they mainly looked at registration, so that foreigners live according to registration. Ours especially prefer this: they register in a permitted area, while they themselves live where it is forbidden for foreigners. And then they are surprised that a gendarme came to them, like the neighbors are scammers. We live by registration, so the visit of the gendarme to us took one minute. I put a tick in my room, refused tea and left.

– What about the dossier?

– They decided to start a personal file for everyone only after our tourist nailed the caretaker of the toilet, and this was recently, here, in Kemer. And even if it is a compatriot, but in this case we are for the Turks, they planted him correctly. What a manner to wave your fists for any reason! The dude regretted 2 lira, this is 6 rubles in our opinion. For him, a human life is not worth even 6 rubles. So we are just waiting for new enhancements.

A Russian-speaking blogger permanently living in Turkey agrees with this opinion: “Of course, we are all counted here, but I am sure that soon we will be counted even more strongly. And checks are held regularly, so now we expect from day to day. Friends have already reported that two people came to them: some worker and a gendarme with a tablet, checked the residence permit of everyone living at the address.” Meanwhile, Russian relocators who applied for an ikamet (tourist residence permit) not in Istanbul and not in the resort area, but in the Turkish outback, where, according to the experience of their predecessors, there are “never no problems” with obtaining, reported that the procedure for them is “clearly artificially delayed” . Although the Russians have submitted the entire package of documents, recently significantly expanded, they have not been called in for a “rendezvous” (interview) for the second week, although for the small settlement where they are located, this is “more than strange.”

– More than 1,000 districts have already been closed for foreigners, documents for a residence permit need to be collected twice as much, a census has been carried out for each apartment, the investment threshold has been raised, what else can theoretically be done? – I’m trying to find out from a Turkish travel agency cooperating with a Russian tour operator.

– It was decided to follow the Russians individually. In the sense that the one who brought them is responsible for their tourist groups, including the behavior of individual tourists. And for independent relocants – the district gendarme. He will visit them sometimes, visit, find out how things are going, mood.

– As in Russia, a district police officer to a teenager who got noticed in the children’s room of the police! Will the gendarmes go only to the Russians?

– No, to everyone. It’s just that there are more Russians here now. After the terrorist attack, everyone except the Russians refused to book. Because of this, no one of you refused the planned vacation.

And soon there will be even more of us: from November 20, the flight program from the cities of the Russian Federation to Turkey will expand due to direct flights from Kaliningrad, and from November 25 – from Yekaterinburg. Moreover, you can fly from Yekaterinburg to Istanbul and back for only 23 thousand rubles. We will have to open a “Russian room” in the Turkish gendarmerie.