Gela Japaridze: “Georgian People Have Not Been Deported Due To Changed Turkish Policy”

Increased number of deported Georgian people from Turkey is not connected with the changed policy of official Ankara towards Georgia - vice-consul of Georgia in the Republic of Turkey Gela Japaridze told the Interpresnews. 

He added that as a result of the raid carried out by Turkish law enforcement agencies late in October, they detained citizens of other countries together with Georgian citizens.

“No policy has been changed. Simply, at the end of October Ankara law enforcement agencies carried out large-scaled special operation for the detention of people who illegally employ foreigners in the country and Georgian citizens were among them. They have not arrested and deported only Georgian citizens; they arrested illegal visitors from other countries too. The special operation aimed to detain the employers and not the illegal visitors. So, criminal case was launched against about 40 companies and physical persons who illegally employed citizens of foreign countries; and the illegal visitors were deported to their home countries,” said Gela Japaridze.

The vice-consul said that all detained Georgian citizens have returned home except three people.

“80 people returned to Georgia on October 27; 65 people departed on the next day; on October 31, 25 people left Turkey and according to our information they have already crossed the Georgian border. Based on the request of our embassy, the Turkish side operatively finished all deportation procedures, including collecting their personal items. At the moment, three Georgian people are still in Turkey; two women will travel later because their presence in Turkey is necessary for the investigation – they might receive status of trafficking victims; the third woman turned up married to the citizen of Turkey so, she was not deported from Turkey,” said the vice-consul.

On October 24, Ankara gendarmerie started large-scaled raid and detained more than 100 Georgian illegal visitors.

Interpresnews