“They didn’t understand what was going on”: Russian woman was sent from Turkey because of her namesake in the black list

On July 8, Olga Volkova, a resident of Pavlovsky Posad, situated near Moscow, along with her family — husband and son — flew to Antalya in Turkey. This vacation was long-awaited: the woman left abroad for the first time.

At the border control, Olga unexpectedly withdrew her passport and escorted her to a special room without explanation.

“We gave away the passport, and the employee looked at me in surprise and asked:“ Olga Volkova? ”My passport was hidden in a turnkey locker. The staff discussed something among themselves, but we didn’t understand what was happening. This went on for an hour and a half. I began to panic, ”- said a woman RT.

The wolves got scared and tried to figure out what was going on. They asked the representative of the tour operator to come to their aid, as the Turkish law enforcement officers and the airport spoke only Turkish and English.

“They told me not to worry that everything will be fine, since there are a lot of such cases. Perhaps, just something coincidentally coincided, now everything is rechecked and, most likely, we will be released. I went abroad for the first time. What problems can I have? I wanted to defend my position, ”says the woman.

As it turned out, in 2012, Olga’s complete namesake with the same year of birth violated Turkish legislation and noted in the base of the border guards that she was forbidden to enter Turkey.

Then Volkova asked the police to call the Russian embassy.

“The Consul apologized and said that he couldn’t do anything about it, therefore, most likely, they deport me by the first plane to Moscow,” Volkova recalls.

After a three-hour wait, the airport employees took Volkov to a room for the deportees.

“My husband and child have passed with me. There was a shower, toilet, bunk beds. We sat there and just cried. The child asked to go home. Meanwhile, our relatives turned to a travel agency in Pavlovsky Posad, where we bought a ticket, and asked to find out. But no action followed, ”she notes.

As a result, the family decided that Volkova’s husband and son would still go to the hotel - without her.

“I realized that they were deporting me, because no one comes, does not find out anything. The spouse did not want to go without me, but I understood that they would send me as a deportee free of charge, and he would have to buy a ticket at his own expense, and we took only $ 150 with us, ”she explained.

As the woman notes, she was outraged that neither the tour operator nor the embassy asked what was happening to her and her family.

“We were not fed or watered, but it worries me less. I am worried that I was just abandoned, although both the tour operator and the embassy knew what situation I was in. But no one called and didn’t know what happened to me — maybe they just took me to an unknown destination, ”she said.

Late in the evening, the Russian woman was put on a plane and, until she returned to Moscow, she did not give her passport.

“Upon arrival, they told me not to leave the plane, because they would meet me. I told the border guards what happened to me. She, too, was shocked, but my question, where to turn, did not answer, could not help me at all, ”the woman complains.

Compensation is not worth it

Coral Travel RT reported that the issue of compensation for a failed vacation is being considered on the fact that the client had contacted the manager who had sold the tour.

Upon returning home, Volkova immediately turned to a travel agency for compensation, as well as to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Rosturizm.

“In total, the voucher cost about 80 thousand rubles. I was told that the money would not be returned to me, since the husband and the child live in the room, that is, he was booked and used. In addition, the tour operator paid me a ticket home - she explained. “I wrote an appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addressed to Rosturizm, where they rudely told me:“ Say thank you for not taking you anywhere and returning so quickly, some of you are sitting there for several days. ”

The press service of the Federal Tourism Agency RT could not provide an operational comment.

In a conversation with RT, the Russian woman draws attention to the fact that the Turkish border guards do not have either a photo or fingerprints of the very Olga Volkova, who was deported in 2012. A resident of the Moscow region indicates that local employees did not take into account, for example, the fact that she never traveled outside Russia and could not get into the black lists of tourists.

According to Volkova, her family used to go to the south of Russia, but this summer decided to try to relax in Turkey.

“This year my husband said he did not want to travel for a long time, so he bought a ticket to Turkey, because everyone is flying. Now we have no desire to go there again, ”she concluded.

System error

Volkova case is not the only one. In 2017 and 2018, information appeared about other Russian women with this name and surname who suffered from the formal approach of the Turkish border guards.

“I know for sure that there is a girl from Yekaterinburg, there is from Perm. The girl accompanying me said that there are dozens of such, but nothing can be done with this: everyone has the same name and year of birth, ”Volkova said.

In 2017, more than four thousand Russians got to the black lists of the Turkish border control. In addition to Volkova, a Russian, Dmitry Petrov, was detained at the entrance to Turkey - his namesake was also previously accused of a crime in the country.

As in the case of the Russian woman, the detention took place before all the circumstances were clarified, therefore only at the trial the man managed to prove his non-participation - the detainee had a different patronymic and place of registration with the violator.

As a result, in July 2017, in connection with the increasing incidence of detention of Russians at the Turkish border, the Russian Foreign Ministry held talks with the Turkish embassy. But how they ended, is still unknown. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the RT request was advised to contact the Rosturizm.

Without explaning the reason

Olga Sanayeva, Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), told RT that she does not have information about what happened, but if such a problem exists, then Rostourism and the Russian Foreign Ministry need to solve it directly with Turkish partners.

Sanaeva stressed that anyone traveling abroad should understand that the country of entry has the right to refuse to passport control.

“Tourists should contact the tour operator, and he, in turn, should go to Rosturizm, and there - to the Foreign Ministry. There are cases of non-admission abroad, but I will not say that this happens often. And people often do not understand why they were not allowed. But any country of entry is entitled to it. ”

A colleague of Sanaeva, Yuri Barzykin (also a vice-president of the PCT), advised Volkova to turn to the Foreign Ministry, since it is the Foreign Ministry that interacts with foreign authorities that provide border control. The PCT representative also noted that partial compensation for the cost of rest is quite possible.

“The Foreign Ministry must sort out (for example, make the appropriate notes, representations) and find out who was actually deported. No travel agency or public organization solves such issues. The tour operator is not responsible for passing the border control, ”he said, noting that Russian tourists in Mexico were in a similar situation.

At the beginning of July, two groups of Russians (more than 20 people) were not allowed into Mexico, since the local migration service decided that the purpose of their trip did not correspond to what was stated in the declaration.

Also in July, 16 Russians could not pass the border control at the airport of the city of Incheon in South Korea, as they could not confirm that they had arrived in the country as tourists.