Gundelik Nakhchivan, a social news page covering news from the Azerbaijani exclave, claims that the Turkish authorities have been imposing a ban on taxi drivers coming from Nakhchivan for several weeks now.
According to Gundelik Nakhchivan, taxi drivers who violate the new rule are fined and their cars are subject to a 15-day imprisonment.
Drivers told the Facebook page on Thursday that the police have been stopping them for checks in the 20-kilometre control zone after passing customs.
Turkish border guards tell taxi drivers apart from other drivers by asking them for the names and surnames of their passengers, the page said.
‘Drivers who fail the check are fined, and their cars are sent to the impound lot’, reported Gundelik Nakhchivan, citing the taxi drivers.
Taxi driver Gunduz Mammadov told Gundelik Nakhchivan that he was fined in the same way several days ago.
‘For years, we earned a living by transporting passengers to Turkey. Recently, we were allowed to go there once every 15 days. Now the Turkish side has completely deprived us of our livelihood’.
According to Mammadov, the Turkish side did this based on the complaint of minibus drivers who work as taxi drivers on the section between the Iğdır–Dilucu checkpoint.
‘They say that Nakhchivan drivers must take the passenger to customs, and from there Turkish taxi drivers must take them to Iğdır’.
Another driver, Nazim Mammadov, told Gundelik Nakhchivan that he also faced the same problem.
‘This did not happen before; both we and they could drive passengers in the Nakhchivan–Iğdır–Nakhchivan direction. Now they say that Nakhchivan taxi drivers cannot transport passengers to Turkey. Bring them to Nakhchivan customs and hand them over to Turkish taxis from there’.
Mammadov stated that they earned money from the Turkey side for years, and now they are in a difficult situation.
According to drivers, dozens of Nakhchivan taxi drivers have been detained in Turkey.
The authorities in Azerbaijan have not commented on reports of Azerbaijani taxi drivers being banned from entering Turkey.
The land borders between Turkey and Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenia, are the only Azerbaijani land borders open for use, as Baku continues to extend the closure of its borders, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aytan Farhadova
