Article 43 TPR provides that if temporary protection beneficiaries make a request for a travel document, these requests “shall be evaluated” in the framework of Article 18 of the Passport Law. As described in International Protection: Travel Documents, Article 18 of the Passport Law envisions the two types of “passport with a foreign-nationals-only stamp” (Yabancılara Mahsus Damgalı Pasaport) with different durations of validity. Therefore, the current temporary protection framework does not foresee the provision of (Refugee) Travel Documents to temporary protection beneficiaries within the meaning of the 1951 Convention.
Stakeholders are not aware of any such “passports with a foreign-nationals-only stamp” issued to a temporary protection beneficiary. That being said, there are cases of temporary protection beneficiaries being allowed to travel on their Syrian passports to third countries for private purposes, although in some cases these individuals encounter difficulties in entering Türkiye upon return.[1]
In 2022, Ministry of Interior Affairs issued a circular to PDMMs regarding the imposition of a new duty on taxi drivers to check the travel permits of foreigners when transporting passengers between cities. The taxi driver would otherwise be accused of human trafficking.[2]
[1] Information provided by a stakeholder, May 2023.
[2] AA, ‘İçişleri Bakanı Soylu: Taksicilere yabancı yolcuların il dışı seyahat izin belgelerini kontrol yükümlülüğü getiriyoruz’, 2022, available in Turkish at: https://bit.ly/44poaJ9.