Russian journalists working in Turkey will now be required to secure an official permit or face sanctions, the BBC's Russian-language service reported Thursday quoting a statement by the Turkish embassy in Moscow.
According to the report, correspondents will now have to apply to a Turkish mission with documents including a letter from their organization, detailing their itinerary and giving names of prospective interviewees.
“This is a routine procedure followed in many countries. It's also useful,” an unidentified source at the embassy was quoted as saying by the BBC as well as the Interfax news agency.
“Journalists working on Turkish territory without a permit may be faced with a variety of sanctions,” the embassy statement read, Interfax wrote Thursday.
The new rules will apply to all correspondents, regardless of the duration of their stay in Turkey, according to the news agency.
The Interfax report quoted an unidentified diplomatic source as saying that the requirements had been in place before. “This decision has not been taken today. The rules existed before, but unfortunately many journalists paid no heed to them when traveling to Turkey,” they said, adding that reporters could now expect to face stricter checks. According to Interfax, the embassy source also said that similar restrictions applied to foreign reporters in Russia, advising journalists to “contact the Russian Foreign Ministry on the matter.”
