Kapıkule

Over 4 million expats entered and exited Türkiye via the border gates in the northwestern Edirne province between June 22 and Aug. 31, indicating a 4 percent increase from the same period last year, the governor has announced.

As schools began their summer break in June, expatriates increasingly opted to use the border crossings in Edirne for their travels to and from Türkiye.

More than 2.2 million Turkish expats have recently left the country through the border gates opening to Bulgaria and Greece.

As summer is coming to an end, many expats living in Europe return to their countries of work from Türkiye where they came for vacation.

The number of expatriates entering Türkiye via its northwestern border gates has reached 1.3 million in the past month, accompanied by 323,600 vehicles, according to data released by the Trade Ministry.

Türkiye is investing in modernizing its several border gates that are used for trade widely, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has said.

More than 1.8 million expatriates have visited Türkiye to spend their summer vacations, the official data showed.

Edirne, a northwestern province of Turkey located near the Bulgarian and Greek borders, seems to be having one of the best times of this year with its exciting social activities and tourists densely flowing into the city.

The number of expatriates, who traveled to Turkey to spend the Eid al-Adha and summer holiday in the country, has tripled compared to a year ago.

While around 289,000 Turks living abroad came to the country from June 1 to July 20 last year, over 970,000 expatriates entered Turkey through the Kapıkule, Hamzabeyli, İpsala and Dereköy border crossings in the same period of this year.

The Minister of Health issued an order imposing a temporary ban on entry into the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria of persons and vehicles entering the country from the Republic of Turkey through the following border checkpoints: Lesovo - Hamzabeyli, Kapitan Andreevo - Kapıkule, Malko Tarnovo.

Turkey's land borders with Greece and Bulgaria have been closed to the entry and exit of passengers as a measure against the coronavirus outbreak, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 18.

Turkish customs officials seized a record two tons of marijuana at the border crossing with Bulgaria, the country's trade minister said on Feb. 11.

"In an operation carried out at the Kapıkule [customs gate] by customs officials of our ministry, 2.07 tons marijuana were seized, and a new record has been broken," Ruhsar Pekcan said in a tweet.