Tajikistan ends a vis-free access for citizens of Turkiye in response of Turkiye’s decision to cancel a visa-free travel for Tajik nationals.
An official source within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan says Tajikistan reinstates visa requirement for nationals for Turkiye.
"Tajikistan is introducing a visa regime for holders of Turkish general passports for foreign travels starting from April 20 in accordance with the government’s decree dated March 28 in order to implement the principle of reciprocity," the source noted.
Turkish citizens can obtain Tajikistan visa at the embassies and consulates of Tajikistan abroad, he added.
Recall, Tajikistan introduced a unilateral vis-free travel regime for nationals of 52 countries, including Turkiye, starting from January 1, 2022. The government’s decree set a time limit of 30 days for nationals of these countries to stay in Tajikistan’s territory.
As it had been reported earlier, Turkiye cancelled visa-free travel for Tajik nationals on April 6, without giving any reason behind the decision.
Russian news agency TASS, citing Turkiye’s official state paper Resmi Gazete, reported that Turkiye had canceled the visa-free regime for citizens of Tajikistan holding regular foreign passports.
“A decision was made to cancel the visa-free regime for citizens of Tajikistan holding ordinary foreign passports when traveling to Turkiye,” the document said.
The adopted measure was reportedly based on the Law on Foreigners and International Protection. The decision comes into force from the moment of publication.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan noted that the visa regime will be reintroduced for Tajik nationals starting from April 20.
An official source within the Tajik MFA said Ankara officially notified Dushanbe about its plan to scrap the vis-exemption rule on April 6.
The visa-exemption rule had been in place since 2018 and allowed Tajik nationals to stay in Turkiye for up to 90 days without visa.
Meanwhile Turkiye’s Embassy in Dushanbe said at the time that the resumption of the visa regime is presumably a temporary measure.
