Türkiye lifts visa for citizens of Bulgaria

Click to read the article in Turkish

Türkiye has lifted the visa requirements for citizens of Bulgaria, as per a decree published in the Official Gazette today (July 27).

Citizens of Bulgaria will be allowed to enter Türkiye with their ID cards and the length of stay provided by visa or visa exemption cannot exceed 90 days within each 180 days, according to the decree issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

More than 944,000 citizens of Bulgaria visited Türkiye between January and May making up 8.3 percent of foreign visitors in Türkiye in this period, according to Ministry of Culture and Tourism figures. In May, 57,874 tourists came from Bulgaria.

Over the past year, one-day visits from Bulgaria to Türkiye's border province of Edirne for shopping drastically increased due to the Turkish lira's rapid depreciation.

Meanwhile, Türkiye's citizens still have to have a passport and obtain a visa to enter Bulgaria.

Türkiye has granted visa-free travel to citizens of 81 countries, including 16 countries whose citizens can enter the country with their ID cards and don't have to have a passport upon arrival: Germany, Belgium, France, Georgia, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Northern Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Ukraine, Greece, Poland

Citizens of Türkiye can travel to six countries with ID cards: Northern Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Serbia.

Türkiye ranks 52nd in the list of the countries with the most powerful passports. (HA/VK)