Two foreigners were registered as temporary residents of an apartment in Ankara belonging to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya without his knowledge, the T24 news website reported on Friday, later confirmed by the country’s migration authority.
Journalist Tolga Şardan from T24 reported on Friday that when a watchman assigned to verify the addresses of two foreigners with temporary residence in Turkey went to an apartment in the Çankaya district, he found the apartment belongs to the minister.
Yerlikaya, who heads the ministry working to stem illegal migration, assigned an inspector to look into the matter following the emergence of a crisis concerning the issuance of residence permits to two foreigners in his apartment, according to the report.
The investigation showed that the Ankara provincial migration office granted residence permits to two military school students from Kyrgyzstan at Yerlikaya’s residence. The two foreigners were also found to have applied for long-term residence.
Administrative action was taken against more than 10 staff members at the Ankara provincial migration office, and some officers were subsequently dismissed.
The Presidency of Migration Management confirmed in a written statement on Tuesday that two foreign students were found to have been registered at Yerlikaya’s residence in May, following which criminal complaints had been filed against two Azerbaijani military school students, identified only by the initials N.N. and A.H., as well as two civilians.
⭕️KAYITDIŞI SIĞINMACILAR
Gazeteci Tolga Şardan’ın bugün yazdığı “Kayıtdışı Yabancı” vakası çok önemlidir.
❗️Yazıda ifade edildiğine göre devletin bakanının evinde bile kayıtlı gözüken ama orada yaşamayan yabancılar var.
Adres sahiplerinin bundan haberi olmasa bile böyle bir… https://t.co/PBo7x14Rxa pic.twitter.com/Ij0lAKjH4D
— Prof.Dr.Kürşad ZORLU (@zorlu77) August 2, 2024
Meanwhile, Kürşad Zorlu, a lawmaker from the nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party, said on Friday in a parliamentary question to Yerlikaya that illegal immigrants can even use a minister’s house as an address and asked how a registration system could work without the knowledge of address owners. He asked whether there is a verification of the addresses of foreigners living in Turkey and how many people have been detected in these verifications who are registered at the given address even though they do not live there. The deputy also said that this question was addressed to the alleged “imaginary voters” who are being used to increase the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a claim that Sadi Güven, the head of the Supreme Election Board, had previously denied.
Bazı basın yayın organlarında ve sosyal medyada yer alan İçişleri Bakanımızın adresinde “iki yabancı adına kayıtlı ikamet izni çıktığı” haberlerine ilişkin basın açıklaması ⬇️https://t.co/WKpTVPoJr7 pic.twitter.com/X783SQm6YA
— Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı (@Gocidaresi) August 2, 2024
The development was revealed a week after the Birgün daily reported that international drug trafficker Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers obtained two residence permits in Turkey using both his real and fake names.
The Turkish government has long been accused of making Turkey a safe haven for international criminals by granting them citizenship and for its open door policy for illegal migrants from war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq without any supervision.