Why is Turkey Restricting Visa Access to Pakistanis?

It might surprise you that the people of Turkey, who once used to call Pakistanis their “kardes” meaning “brother” in the Turkish language, used to sing jeeway jeeway Pakistan with great fervor and enthusiasm not too long ago, are now against the Pakistani nation. They are now running a Twitter campaign against the people of Pakistan by writing #GetOutPakistan #PakistaniPerverts It is also being reported that Pakistani ex-pats working and living in Turkey, and the Pakistani tourists who visit Turkey, are facing rude locals and they are behaving quite strangely with them.  So, how have we arrived at this situation? Let’s find out.

It all started with the war on Syria, and when millions of Syrian Refugees escaped Syria and entered Turkey. The Turkish government granted them access, but the people of Turkey could never accept them, that’s because Syrian refugees faced a huge hunger crisis. So, they started begging on the streets, despite having been placed inside refugee camps. Along with that, some of them started resorting to illegal activities, including smuggling drugs. Naturally, the Turks got angered by the level of illegal activities that were being started by these refugees. Now comes the case of Pakistan, who enter illegally to Turkey via Iran through land routes. It’s being said that around 50,000 to 80,000 Illegal Pakistanis live in Turkey, and these illegal immigrants do the same thing these Syrian refugees do. They work menial jobs which are low income and to gain more money, they do illegal activities, or resort to begging. This causes problems for legal Pakistanis living there and the tourists. Because of their unprofessional behavior, the legal residents suffer, because all it takes is one bad seed to make the whole bunch look rotten.

These illegal residents go to popular tourist destinations in Istanbul and Ankara and harass the women who visit those places. They make videos of these women, and upload them on TikTok, without their permission which includes the local Turkish women as well.

They believe that the historical fiction drama “Ertugrul” is real and they will find their “Haleema Sultana” here in Turkey. Whether it be bus stands, railway stations, shopping malls, or tourist spots. They make videos of the women and harass them.

To add flame to the fire, news got around that some Pakistanis kidnapped four Nepali Women at gunpoint, and were demanding 10,000 Euros. It was later found out that those Nepali women were living illegally in Turkey, and they were hoping to transport to Europe with the help of the same Pakistani men that kidnapped them. Due to their refusal to pay them, the Pakistani men kidnapped them, which makes it even more shameful for Pakistan, because now it seems that they are getting involved in human trafficking as well.

Most of the blame lies on Pakistani illegal immigrants who resort to such activities, but it’s being exaggerated a lot by the Turkish Media, the opposition party leaders and some external forces (you know who I’m talking about) who do not want to see the friendship between Pakistan and Turkey.

The situation is not good for those students who wish to go to Turkey to study, or for those who are going to Turkey to work or live there illegally and are helping the economy of Turkey.

So, what’s the solution for all of this? Our foreign office should look into this matter seriously. The illegal trafficking of Pakistanis to Turkey should be looked at, otherwise, it would be next to impossible for Pakistanis to travel anywhere. Where it’s already difficult to travel outside of Pakistan with several visa restrictions in place, I fear we may be placed on a no-fly list.