The protest of truck drivers who turned off the ignition in Kapıkule has ended: Passages have started

Truck drivers, who carry Türkiye's export products to European countries, started protesting at the Kapıkule Border Gate, which opened to Bulgaria, on October 21 to express the problems they experience, especially the visa problem, the 90-day stay restriction in European Union countries within 180 days, and waiting in queues at the border gates.

Customs and Tourism Enterprises Inc. next to the border gate. This action of the drivers sitting in front lasted 5 hours. Drivers continued their protests in the following days. Finally, yesterday, drivers turned off the ignition at Kapıkule and Hamzabeyli Border Gate, which opens to Bulgaria, and Ipsala Border Gate, which opens to Greece. Representatives of international transportation companies also met with the drivers at Kapıkule Border Gate.

In the statement made yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce; It was stated that the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport are working in coordination to solve the problems faced by the international transportation sector.

In the statement, it was stated that Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat had a meeting with Bulgarian Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdhziev yesterday to speed up the transitions between the two countries and to solve the problems experienced by the drivers. It was noted that contact was also established with the European Union Commission regarding the issues discussed during the meeting. Following the ministry's statement, truck drivers stopped their protests at the border gates in Edirne and started going abroad.

Truck driver Burak Varol, who was waiting to exit at Kapıkule Border Gate, stated that they were informed that the ministries were working and that the problem would be solved within 15 days, and said, "As a result of this, all of our driver friends who did not have the right to stay, who had a visa but could not go, left. They have now crossed to Bulgaria and Romania in a healthy way. They were told that there would be no problems in other countries. Those who left Bulgaria entered Romania. Our friends who are currently traveling in Romania and whose session has ended are cruising." "It is progressing," he said.

Stating that their aim as drivers is to make their voices heard, Varol said, "Our state officials, currently three of our ministries, are working on this. So, we think that this will achieve a result. Our aim was to make our voices heard, and thank God, we made them heard very well. We hope that this 15-day solution process will be permanent and in the most beneficial way for Turkish transportation, Turkish imports and exports."

Truck driver Velat Bayar also said that 3 ministries are working on the issue and they expect the problem to reach a permanent solution. Bayar said, "In this process, they tell us that it will be resolved within 15 days. We only know this much. That is all we have control over. All our colleagues, all our brothers, our uncles, everyone can go very easily. We sent 5-6 cars from here, knowing the ones with problematic logins, first. We got their contact numbers. Currently, three of them have passed Romania. The other two have entered Bulgaria. We have been in communication. They said that they did not have any problems and they are now. "They continue on their way," he said.