Turkey halted to grant residence permits to Russian citizens, T24 said.
Russians’ applications for a short-term residence permit in Turkey’s various cities were rejected since Dec. 26, the news website said on Tuesday, citing Russian media.
According to the Russian Current Time, a woman named Ekaterina who moved to Turkey with her husband from Moscow said that they were told “no matter what document they present, the Russians were not currently granted a residence permit”.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has not yet made a statement regarding the issue, T24 said.
Following the Ukraine war, Turkey became a safe haven for Russian citizens.
Despite condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO member Turkey that sought close ties with Moscow in recent years has 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.
According to Turkish official data, Russians living with residence permits in Turkey in 2022 have numbered 145,715 by the end of the year, more than doubling the previous year’s figures, making up the top of the list of foreigners living in Turkey with residence permits.
Since the beginning of the war on Feb.24 last year, Russian billionaires also sought to make major investments in Turkish market that provide them a Turkish citizenship.
The figures revealed in December showed that Russians overtook Iranians as Turkey’s biggest foreign home buyers, purchasing nearly 14,000 properties nationwide in the first 11 months of 2022.
Source: Gerçek News
