Turkey launches e-visa for citizens of 94 countries

A new system designed to make the visa application process easier for foreign nationals hoping to travel to Turkey has been launched by the Turkish government. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek held a press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to introduce the e-visa system to the media. During the press conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru made a presentation on the new system, indicating that the project has been launched to increase the number of tourists visiting Turkey, ease the travel of businesspeople to Turkey and save on time and staff. Koru added that the new e-visa system would enable foreign nationals to obtain a Turkish visa online, and thus avoid having to wait in line-ups at Turkish embassies, consulates or at border crossings. Stating that the project involves the citizens of 94 countries that are required to take visa to enter Turkey, Koru said, "This is a project that is of great importance to the people of 94 countries. The process of obtaining visa does not take more than few minutes. Therefore, it is very convenient." The project which was launched with the cooperation of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Turkish Interior Ministry and Turkish Airlines (THY) categorizes countries under two large groups. The first group is composed of 40 countries and the second group consists of citizens of 54 countries mainly from Africa. The e-visa system can be accessed at www.evisa.gov.tr. Speaking at the press conference, Davutoglu said, "This is a revolutionary practice and there is no other country implementing this system at the scale we are implementing it." Davutoglu also called the countries that have visa requirements for Turkey to lift those visa regimes. "Now lift the visa regime that you apply to our citizens. It is the weakness of a state to make people wait in line at embassies or consulates to obtain a visa," said Davutoglu.