Tim Drayton wrote:Kikapu wrote:Tim Drayton wrote:There is a factual error here. Every Turkish citizen, provided they have completed their military service in the case of men - and Olgaç clearly had - can obtain a passport. Turkish citizens do not require visas to exit their own country.
Tim,
In the 70's and 80's and I'm not certain when it eventually stopped being, but in those era, for a Turkish citizen to leave Turkey did require a form of an "exit visa" by making a payment of £100 British Pounds to the Turkish authorities at a time when inflation was running at more than 80%. A £100 back then was much more than what most Turks made in a month which meant most were not able to travel outside Turkey. It was a way for Turkey to make money from the well off Turks and keep the rest in the country so not to take much needed funds out of the country. So, it all depends how an "exit visa" is defined here.
I have heard that at one time it was quite hard for ordinary Turkish people to get passports. Then came the 12 September 1980 coup, and Turgut Özal was made prime minister, and he introduced various liberal measures. One of these was a freeing up of foreign travel, although you had to pay quite a lot of money to a social housing fund every time you left the country. This is the kind of payment you are referring to, and I did not know that it existed in the 1970's, but you could well be right.
I still find it hard to believe that a Turkish citizen who had completed his military service could not obtain a passport in 1990 - although, I am sure the authorities would have done all in their power to prevent Olgaç from leaving the country if they had got wind of the reason for this.
Tim,
You are probably correct, Tim, with your date, that it was in 1980 when the Turks started paying huge amounts of money to gain exit visas to travel abroad. I used the 70's and 80's loosely. I should have aim for the middle of the two.!
