Migration Management

Türkiye has suspended the agreement granting visa exemption to holders of diplomatic passports from Afghanistan, according to the Official Gazette.

The decree, bearing the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stipulated that the decision will take effect from June 1, following its announcement on May 29.

The number of irregular migrants deported from Türkiye in 2022 has soared to nearly 100,000, according to the Directorate General of Migration Management.

Türkiye has deported 97,448 irregular migrants since the new year as the number of deportations increased by 149 percent compared to the same period of 2021.

Turkish Coast Guard teams have rescued 67 irregular migrants pushed back by Greece in two operations conducted off the Aegean province of Balıkesir.

In an incident reminiscent of the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, a Turkmenistan citizen named Jumamyrat Jumalyev has been found living on the upper floor of a duplex house in Istanbul's Mecidiyeköy district for a while.

More neighborhoods in provinces across Turkey will be closed to foreigners due to a quota to be introduced starting next month, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has announced.

Some 781 locations where the population of foreigners exceeded 25 percent of the local population have already been banned for foreigners, Soylu added.

There are a total of 1.18 million foreigners in Istanbul, including 535,000 Syrians under temporary protection, Governor Ali Yerlikaya has said.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi pays a working visit to Turkey to discuss migration and refugee-related subjects in the meetings, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Sept. 8.

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Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu discussed the latest developments in Afghanistan, migration management, and humanitarian aid to refugees with Grandi.

One hundred asylum seekers were held in the town of Çeşme in Turkey's Aegean province of Izmir, Turkish officials said on Aug. 9. 

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According to a statement from the Turkish Coast Guard Command, a sail boat was stopped off the coast of Alaçatı in Çeşme.

Esenyurt has become a diverse crucible for many foreigners escaping war elsewhere in the world or for those who have made Istanbul their home over the years.

The residence permit applications of foreign nationals who want to reside in Istanbul's Esenyurt, a district on the far western side of the city, and Fatih, also known as "historical peninsula," have been restricted.