Istanbul to Illegality: Visa-Free Serbia a Hub for EU-Bound Turks

Two days later, at around 3 p.m., a man called Erkan Sorovac collected the two Turks and drove them to Backa Topola, a town roughly 30 kilometres short of the border with European Union member Hungary. After changing car and the driver, the group approached the Horgos border crossing at 6.50 p.m., when it was already dark. Ten minutes later, in the company of unidentified guides, the two Turks set off across the Serbian part of the border, walking slowly at the edge of the crossing hidden behind a convoy of trucks queuing to pass customs.

Sorovac also crossed the Serbian side of the crossing, legally, and stopped by toilets in no-man's land where he met the two Turks and gave them instructions to cross the Hungarian side too. It worked, and a few moments later, now on Hungarian territory, a car picked up the pair and they drove off.

This simple operation was repeated a number of times between February and November 2022, when, in an operation of its own named after the city of Mardin in southeastern Turkey, Serbian police arrested Sorovac as the suspected ringleader and two other men, accusing them of illegally smuggling Turkish citizens into the EU at a price of 2,400 euros per person.

According to a copy of the court verdict of December 9, 2022 and obtained by BIRN via a Freedom of Information request, the group offered an all-inclusive package: airport pick-up, fake guarantee letters, accommodation, transport to the border with Hungary and pick-up on the other side.

Photo/Illustration: Igor Vujcic/BIRN

Sorovac was sentenced to three and a half years in prison; Delibalta was sentenced to 11 months house arrest and his wife to six, while Asutay and another man remain on the run.

The group had no shortage of customers.