| Thai-Online | Date: Thursday, 18.04.2019, 16:45 | Message # 1 |
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| Implementing the idea of entering Russians in Turkey on internal passports is difficult - commented the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. As the experts supposed, the main difficulties are connected with problems with reading information and the inability to make unauthorized marks in the Russian passport.
“Our position is this: the implementation of this idea is very difficult for a number of reasons, first of all, it is connected with the legal aspects of using an internal passport when going abroad. According to the Russian legislation, the territory of using common passports is limited to Russia. There are a few exceptions, these are countries with which we have achieved a very high level of integration, while in the aforementioned states border officials are fluent in Russian, ”said Maria Zakharova. Among these states are mostly former Soviet republics and their parts - Abkhazia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Ossetia.
Accordingly, in Turkey, at least, there will be a problem of reading the information, which is set out in passports in Russian, and this may entail a number of conflict situations with the participation of Russian citizens while they are in Turkey. Also, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, unauthorized marks, including those about crossing the border, cannot be made in internal passports. She added that the Russian side does not see any problems in the use of foreign passports.
Recall that in the middle of this week it was announced that Turkey was once again planning to return to the question of the possibility of introducing entry for domestic tourists on internal passports.
Note that this topic was raised for the first time before the crisis in relations between Russia and Turkey, in 2015 year. By the way, at the same time, the possibility of providing tourists with ruble payments in Turkey was also discussed - including at that time Russia's Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev and her Turkish counterpart Nihat Zaybekchi discussed it, and Ankara also made such a proposal.
In 2017, with the return of Russian tourists, the topic received a “second birth”. Two years ago, at the end of March 2017, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “Now that our relations have normalized, we can continue these negotiations. A discussion will soon begin on the issue of accepting Russian tourists in Turkey who arrive without a passport only with internal identity cards. Devices for checking such documents are already installed at airports, ”Mevlüt авavuşoлуlu stated.
Note that the topic traditionally pops up for the summer season. However, at that time, the Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry initiated a discussion on the possibility of switching to internal Russian passports when entering Turkey. First of all, this measure was offered as a way to attract tourists from the regions. “We are aware that far from all Russians who want to go on holiday to Turkey have passports abroad. This is especially true for the regions of Russia located far from the capitals - Moscow and St. Petersburg. That is why the Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry actively promotes in the government and legislative circles of Turkey an initiative on the possibility of Russians entering the country using Russian internal passports, ”said Antalya Chamber of Commerce President Antalya Davut Cetin.
“This is the second attempt of Ankara to simplify the entry for Russian citizens to Turkish resorts as much as possible. If it succeeds, it can lead to an unprecedented breakthrough in the Turkish tourist destination. According to experts, a large number of Russian citizens who do not have a passport will literally rush to the Turkish resorts, ”said Mayor Lomidze, executive director of ATOR. At the same time, the expert noted that Russian resorts may lose their share of tourists. True, provided "if prices at Turkish resorts are competitive compared to Russian ones."
However, we note that at the moment, forecasts for Turkey are more likely to say that the direction will either remain at the same level of Russian tourist flow or even lose it slightly, as prices for hotels in Turkey are rising - forecasts of a rise in price for 15-20% were voiced in end of last year. Plus, the transfer of hotels to settlements with tour operators from dollars to euros - which obviously does not reduce the cost of accommodation. At the same time, this year the demand for resorts in Turkey from European tourists is also growing, which only pushes local hotels to increase prices. All this orgy with prices takes place against the backdrop of a fall in the welfare of Russian tourists. Hence, predictions of stagnation or even a reduction in Russian tourist traffic to Turkey.
According to experts, the calculations of Turkey for tourists without OZP are generally understandable - it is at their expense that the Turks hope to keep or even beat the last year’s record of the Russian tourist flow. “We have passports for the entire population - about 30 million, while about half are actively used. And the total population - 140 million, respectively, when allowing travel without OZP, the flow of tourists will seriously increase, ”Gennady Kosarev, commercial director of the Russian Express tour operator, explained to the TURPROM infogroup correspondent. However, regarding the prices, the expert expressed doubt - a significant increase in tourist traffic is not conducive to discounts and maintaining low prices - what’s on tours, what’s on airline tickets, and therefore hopes of Turkish hotels to keep last year’s record at the expense of “passport-free” tourists.
The procedure of passport-free entry also raises questions, especially since the Russian authorities may not go to it. “For a start, you will need to allow travel to Turkey with Russian passports from the Russian side. And here it is difficult to solve even such a simple question - where to stamp that I crossed the border of Russia, that I entered Turkey? ”Commented Gennady Kosarev. The expert stressed that, for the time being, the practice is such that relocation by internal passport is allowed only within the country, as well as within the framework of the Union State - in particular, to Belarus. Turkey has also used similar measures and some of the neighboring countries already have the right to “deliver” their tourists to their Turkish resorts on their internal passports. In particular, this right has Georgia.
“In general, if the foreign ministers agree on this, then it can become a reality. But it’s hard to imagine what and how much this would need to be done in the Russian and Turkish legislation. ”, Gennady Kosarev summarized.
Based on materials www.tourprom.ru
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