According to Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic, the restriction would be applied only to those who travel from third countries, especially Lebanon and Egypt, but the policy of open doors at the borderline with Syria would remain.
Ankara and Damascus signed an agreement in 2008 to eliminate the visa-granting process in the flow of people between both countries, something that favored that more than two million Syrians sought refuge in Turkey in recent years, after the war started in 2011.
Due to the continuity of the armed conflict and overcrowding in refugee camps, thousands of undocumented people continue their way to Europe and Turkey became the main route.
According to specialized agencies, around 800,000 of more than one million migrants that traveled to Europe in 2015 did it through Turkish territory, from where they traveled by sea to the Greek islands.
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PL-41/MNA
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