Two Libyan families of eight – including two young children – entered Turkish territory on Thursday after have been stranding at Ataturk airport in Istanbul for two days pending entry approval.
The Libyan nationals were denied entry because the administration of the airport was not informed officially with the Turkish authorities’ decision to exempt Libyan citizens from entry visas on their territory, provided they were over the age of 65 or under 12, the Libyan Consul General in Istanbul Fathi Sharif told 218News.
Sharif said the Turkish foreign ministry addressed the immigration department of the interior ministry, which in turn instructed the airport to facilitate the entry of the two Libyan families into the Turkish territory.
Sharif told 218News previously that a delegate from the Libyan consulate was sent to the Libyan families to take care of them until their problem was resolved.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week that his country seeks to exempt Libyans of a certain age from entry visas to Turkey and facilitates it for other age groups.
Cavusoglu added that these steps will be adopted temporarily until the return of mutual exemption between the two countries. The Turkish government has recently promised to partially lift visa restrictions on Libyans after they were imposed in 2015.
In November 2009, Turkey and Libya agreed to mutually lift visa requirements so that Turkish and Libyan citizens can visit each other’s countries without need for visas.
