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Turkey ends travel visa exemption for Tajikistan’s citizens following Moscow attack

2 mins read
April 16, 2024

Turkey has announced the end of visa-free travel for citizens of Tajikistan, following the involvement of Tajik nationals in recent terrorist attacks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu holds a press conference with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin
Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu and his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin | © Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye

Since 2018, Tajik citizens have been able to travel to Turkey for up to 90 days without a visa. This measure will soon come to an end, with the Turkish authorities announcing earlier this month that a visa policy will be introduced from April 20.

While Turkey has not provided an official explanation for the decision, it follows a series of violence, most notably the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow on March 22, in which four assailants massacred over 140 people. The four suspects held by the Russian authorities are Tajik citizens.

The press secretary of the Tajik Foreign Ministry, Shokhin Samadi, told the national media Asia-Plus that Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, had not been officially informed of the change. “According to international practice, the Turkish side should have informed the Tajik side in advance of the date of introduction of the visa regime for citizens of Tajikistan,” he said. “We note that the Tajik side has not yet received this information through diplomatic channels.”

Principle of reciprocity

Tajikistan invoked the principle of reciprocity in announcing the introduction of a visa regime for Turkish citizens, as reported by the Khovar state agency, citing Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on April 15. This decision, confirmed by the Turkish ambassador to Tajikistan, is set to take effect on April 20, 2024.

Tajik passport holders can currently travel to 18 countries without a visa, for varying lengths of time. These include regional neighbors Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and several other former Soviet republics, as well as Barbados, Haiti, the Philippines, Malaysia, and North Korea, among others.

Last January, two masked assailants opened fire in an Italian Catholic church in Istanbul, killing one person. Turkish authorities initially believed that the attack was aimed at a specific individual before the jihadist group Islamic State claimed responsibility. The two assailants were arrested and came from Tajikistan and Russia respectively. As part of the investigation, Turkish police conducted searches at 30 locations and arrested a total of 47 people.

More recently, nine people were arrested by the Tajik authorities for their alleged links with the Moscow bombing suspects. All of them are reported to be residents of Vakhdat, a town east of Dushanbe.

A million Tajiks in Russia

Many Tajiks move to Russia to avoid the low wages and high unemployment in their home country. It is estimated that around one million Tajiks are employed in Russia, representing a significant proportion of Tajikistan’s 9.9 million inhabitants.

A villager from Vakhdat, preferring to remain anonymous, told the BBC that one of the suspects in the attack first emigrated to Russia six months ago. Three months later, he traveled to Turkey, before returning 11 days later in early March. During his stay, he reportedly met another suspected assailant of the Moscow attack.

Turkey is a common crossing point for migrant workers wishing to renew their Russian permits. When they travel to Russia, they have three months to find a residence and a work permit, which costs around $430. To avoid paying, some travel to Turkey before the deadline and then return to Russia.

Turkey, “hub of the Islamic State”

Qasimshah Iskandarov, director of the Dushanbe-based Center for Afghan Studies, believes that migrant workers from Central Asia are susceptible to recruitment by radical groups.

Turkey, in particular, has become a logistical hub for the Islamic State, he adds, because Tajiks and Russians can travel there without a visa.

Many Tajiks are also radicalized in Afghanistan, explains Qasimshah Iskandarov. The country, a few hours’ drive south of Dushanbe, has become the main base for ISIS since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

On April 6, Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry rejected the claim by a senior Russian security official that the Ukrainian embassy in the Tajik capital was recruiting mercenaries to fight Russia. “We note that this claim by the Russian official has no basis,” said Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman Shokhin Samadi, quoted by Russian news agencies.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a key ally of President Vladimir Putin, had said, without providing evidence, that “Ukrainian special services were behind last month’s deadly shooting at a concert near Moscow and that the Ukrainian embassy in Tajikistan was recruiting fighters,” state media reported.

Julie Carballo

Julie Carballo is a journalist for Newsendip.

She used to work for the French newspaper Le Figaro and at the Italian bureau of the international press agency AFP.