Eurasia Press & News
Turkey and Georgia took their visa-free travel policy a step further on Monday, initiating a passport-free travel regime under which their nationals will be able to visit each other’s country with national identity cards alone.
The beginning of the new travel regime coincided with a visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Georgia. He had talks with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in Batumi and the two later attended a ceremony for the opening of the modernized customs gate at the Sarp border crossing.
By implementing a passport-free travel regime at the Sarp border gate — through which approximately 2 million people pass each year — the traffic at the gate will also be eased. It is the main gate between the two neighbors and accounts for almost 90 percent of road transport between the two countries. Turkey and Georgia lifted visa requirements for their nationals in 2009.
