It is nine months of the signing of the agreement on the reciprocal abolition of the visa regime between Moldova and Turkey, but it hasn’t come into force yet as the Turkish Government didn’t ratify it, IPN reports.
Ana Taban, head of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, said the Turkish citizens who apply for a visa for Moldova pay €60 plus a consular tax of about €5. According to the Ministry’s Consular Affairs Division, the number of Turkish people applying for a visa for Moldova is constant. As many as 4,855 visas were issued in the first six months of last year, as opposed to 4,500 visas in the corresponding period this year.
According to Ana Taban, there was stipulated no deadline by which the visa abolition agreement must take effect. The regime is applied when both of the sides finish the internal procedures. Moldova completed all the internal procedures. The Parliament of Moldova ratified the visa abolition agreement with Turkey on April 13, five months and a half after its signing. The accord was signed in Ankara on November 1, 2012.
“The fact that the agreement signed with Turkey hasn’t yet taken effect didn’t influence the number of Moldovans who go to Turkey. On the contrary, the number has increased over the last 12 years,” the head of the Tourism Agency Nicolae Platon has told IPN.
The visa for Turkey for Moldovans costs €20 and can be obtained after landing on Turkish airports. Those who choose to travel by bus or car must get a visa at the Turkish Consulate in Moldova. They also need a transit visa for Romania and Bulgaria.
“The procedure for obtaining two transit visas is rather difficult and costly. The transit visa for Bulgaria costs about €60, while that for Romania slightly less, but the transport expenses amount to the price of a plane ticket that is €200,” said Nicolae Platon.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 148,000 Moldovan tourists went to vacation abroad last year. 35% of them chose Turkey as a vacation destination.
