Russians made up the top of the list of foreigners living in Turkey with residence permits in 2022.
After the Ukraine war, Turkey who rejected to follow the western sanctions imposed on Russia, became a safe haven for the warring country’s nationals.
The number of Russians living with resident permits in Turkey were 145,715 by the end of the year, more than doubling the previous year’s 65,121, Nordic Monitor said, citing Turkish official data.
Russian nationals were followed by citizens of Iraq, Turkmenistan and Syria, it said.
Despite condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO member Turkey that sought close ties with Moscow in recent years refused to follow the Western sanctions imposed on Russia or Russian citizens. Turkey allowed Russian oligarchs to moor their luxury yachts at its ports and said Russian citizens would be welcome in the country as both tourists and investors. Since the beginning of the war, Russian billionaires sought to made major investments in Turkish market that provide them a Turkish citizenship. The figures revealed last month showed that Russians overtook Iranians as Turkey’s biggest foreign home buyers, purchasing nearly 14,000 properties nationwide in the first 11 months of the year.
Source: Gerçek News
