[1] With such passports, it is estimated that several thousand Turkish citizens travelled abroad disguised as public civil servants and did not return.
[2] The scandal began with an article focusing in a case of 43 people who have been smuggled out of Turkey over the Municipality of Malatya by means of this scheme, published in the Turkish newspaper Habertürk in April 2021.
[8][7] In November 2021, one defendant who confessed of having received a request of assistance by the deputy Mayor of the Municipality in Korgan, Ordu was sentenced to a fine of 900 Euros.
[2] Meral Aksener of the Good party criticized the Government of the AKP for the economic situation which caused the people to search for a better environment abroad.
[6] The scandal sparked investigations in dozens of municipalities in Turkey namely Bingöl, Malatya but also in the provinces of Elazig or Erzurum.