Turkish visa rules stem flow of migrants and genuine travelers alike

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A series of new visa rules introduced by Turkey last year have affected genuine travelers, asylum seekers and travel agencies alike while tourism officials in the Kurdistan Region think this may boost tourism at home.

Rekan Rostam, a travel agent in Erbil once had a steady flow of customers most of whom have since disappeared as it is harder for them to obtain Turkish visas.

“This restriction had a negative impact on our company, because many of my customers were travelling to Turkey,” said Rostam. “Less people tend to visit Turkey now due to the hard process, and we have tried our best to cooperate with the concerned party and provide our customers with Turkish visas so we would not lose our customers.”

Under a deal with the European Union last year Turkey agreed to cancel its visa on arrival policy for many nationalities around the world including Kurds who carry Iraqi passports. They must now apply for visas at the Turkish consulate in Erbil.

“Now, we can provide Iraqis with Turkish visas but we take $2,000 as insurance to be certain that the person will come back,” Rostam told Rudaw. “We hope this will go back to its previous situation because not all the customers are capable of putting down the amount of $2,000 as insurance due to the economic crisis the region experiences.”

Official data from the Turkish Consulate General shows that in 2015 alone some 160,000 Iraqi nationals stayed in Turkey illegally and more than 90,000 Iraqi citizens migrated to the west.

But for Darbaz, 26, a resident of Erbil who wished to be identified by his first name, the tough visa restriction is not a solution. He tried three times to reach Germany and was deported each time.

“The restriction of Turkish visa had a negative impact on me psychologically because without such a decision I would not be here,” said Darbaz. “Stopping and restricting Turkish visas is not the ideal solution to stop the influx of migrants,” he believes. “It only delays their migration.”

He is determined to migrate and is bidding his time to try his luck again.

“If I get a good chance, I will leave again,” he said.

Most of those who migrated from Turkey to Europe appear to be from other parts of Iraq with a small fraction from the Kurdistan Region.

The Migration Office in Erbil says that around 4,000 people from the Kurdistan Region migrated to Europe, mostly through Turkey, in 2016.

Not everyone is an immigrant or asylum seeker, says Aram Ibrahim Mohammed, 32, a shop owner in the Erbil market who badly needs to take his 21-month old sick child to a hospital in Turkey.

“My kid is in a bad health condition now and the doctors here cannot treat him so I have to go to Turkey again but I have applied for a visa since March and have not received any response,” he said.

Mohammed has been to Turkey before but now cannot continue the treatment of his child because of the lengthy process and expensive fees.

“I have heard people say you can easily get a Turkish visa if you pay an amount of money, but how can I afford paying for four visas to take all my family with me?” he added. “I really need to go back to Turkey and treat my child but because of this visa restriction I cannot treat my child.”

Masoud Pishtiwan Omer, 23, spent his holidays in Alanya resort last year where he was hoping to go back for the Eid holidays this year, but due to the visa ban he may have to consider other destinations.

“I like Antalya and Alanya, I wanted to go back, but it is not easy as before due to changes in the visa policy,” he told Rudaw. “People are now doing business with visa as they are selling it for different prices to different people, I do not know how they get it but they do business with it,”

“If I do not get a Turkish visa I will be forced to change my plan eventually and travel to Iran,” he added.

According to the official Migration Office in Erbil from 2003 to 2016 more than 40,000 people have returned to Kurdistan and Iraq due to tough asylum laws in Europe.

The Turkish visa restrictions have also affected some businesses in the Kurdistan Region. Jegr Mohammed Ali, 23, a shopkeeper complained that he has lost many customers at his clothes shop for he can no longer visit Turkey to pick the brand and style that sell well.

“I have lost many customers, because I am no longer able to visit Turkey whenever I want to choose the style and type of the clothing I want and meet my customers’ demand,” said Ali.

“I am just filling my shop with clothes that I do not like,” he added. “If this trend continues, turkey will no longer be an option for me to do my business.”

A Turkish consular official in Erbil told Rudaw that they are aware of the abuse of the visa system by some travel agencies, saying meanwhile “We cannot court the violators; it is the Kurdish government’s duty.”

“The travel agencies are making their own rules, we have asked only one thing when you give a Turkish visa for someone, make sure that person will come back,” he added.

The consular official said that they have clear rules and fixed visa fees that applicants and travel agencies alike should abide by. “Turkish visa is free, you just need to pay for the visa application and that does not cost much, but I do not know why people are paying for other things,” he added.

Shakir Yassen, head of the Migration Office in Erbil believes that Turkey and European countries should ease their visa processes. He argues that tough visa measures would encourage people to travel illegally and risk their lives while some people are genuine travelers who want to see and experience those countries.

“This decision has negative points than positive because now people will be forced to travel illegally to Turkey if you do not allow it legally,” said Yassen.

“I think the consulates of the countries and the European Union should cooperate together and ease the process of migration for those who wants to live in Europe because they need to experience life there and see that it is not the heaven that they dream of,” he added.

Andrew Jones, a commercial adviser at Erbil International Airport told Rudaw that airlines continue their flights in and out of Erbil, but the number of passengers to Turkey has declined by 50 percent.

“Following changes to visa requirements for Iraqi passport holders there has been a drop in numbers of passengers traveling to Istanbul, “ he said. “In terms of number of flights - there has been little impact and it is difficult to say that the visa issue has caused airlines to drop flights as they continue to alter schedules anyway.”

According to Jones, the number of passengers travelling to Istanbul was 42,808 in January which witnessed a drastic drop in April to 19,560, “on the evidence of these numbers a 50% drop is the impact of changes to visa.”

The Kurdish government has tried to dissuade people from leaving the country and risking their lives in the hands of smugglers and on unreliable boats that claimed the lives of dozens of Kurds last year while tourism officials have come to see the bright side of the Turkish visa regulations.

“I do not think this decision has any impact on the region, but rather it is in our benefit because those tourists who spent their money in Turkey will spend it in Kurdistan,” Mawlawy Jabbar, head of the tourism department of the Kurdish government. “We will see more tourists from Iraq and this revives the tourism sector in Kurdistan”.

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