另一次的俄羅斯人逃亡：許多逃往土耳其的再次搬往他國 (1/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Another Russian exodus: Many who fled to Turkey move on again (1/2)

Burcu Karakas

Tue, May 21, 2024 at 5:29 a.m. PDT·4 min read

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Russians who fled to Turkey after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine have moved on to other countries in the last year, squeezed by residency issues and soaring costs, according to data and interviews, including with nine Russian citizens.

When the war began in February 2022, Turkey, Russia's Black Sea neighbour and a NATO member, emerged as a magnet for Russians, especially its largest city Istanbul and the Mediterranean resort of Antalya.

Some of them had opposed the invasion, others were trying to shield themselves and their businesses from a wave of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow, including travel bans on Russians to much of Europe. Some men feared being drafted into the army.

But this month, the number of Russians with Turkish resident permits fell to 96,000, down by more than a third from 154,000 at the end of 2022, official data shows.

Nine Russian citizens who spoke to Reuters said they and others had left partly due to struggles to get residence permits since early 2023. Many have headed to Serbia and Montenegro, among the few European countries where they are welcome.

Russians are also moving on because of soaring costs - Turkish inflation hit 70% last month - as well as difficulty doing basic banking in Turkey as a result of the sanctions.

"You can't predict your future in Turkey," said Dmitri, 46, an IT sector employee who declined to give his surname.

After President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilisation in September of 2022 to recruit Russian men to fight in Ukraine, Dmitri left St. Petersburg and reunited with his wife and four-year-old son in Istanbul.

But in January 2023, a text message appeared on his phone saying his residency application was rejected without explanation, he said. Dmitri left Istanbul a month later.

"I had signed a rental contract for one year but had to leave everything behind. We moved to Montenegro because it is economically and politically more stable than Turkey," he said.

Turkey's Presidency of Migration Management said all rejected resident-permit applications include a justification in the foreigners' own language under relevant laws, and that applicants are free to pursue legal remedies.

In an email, it said departures of Russians were not only linked to residency permits.

"Several political, economic and sociocultural factors play a role," the government agency said.

(to be continued)

Translation

伊斯坦堡（路透社）— 數據和訪談其,中包括九名俄羅斯公民所顯示，莫斯科入侵烏克蘭後，數萬名俄羅斯人因居住問題和成本飆升而在去年搬往其他國家。

2022 年 2 月戰爭爆發時，俄羅斯黑海鄰國同時亦是北約成員國土耳其對俄羅斯人產生了巨大的吸引力，尤其是其最大的城市伊斯坦堡和地中海度假勝地 Antalya。

他們中的一些人反對入侵，其他人則試圖保護自己和他們擁有的企業免受西方對莫斯科實施的一波制裁，包括禁止俄羅斯人前往歐洲大部分地區。有些人擔心被徵召入伍。

但官方數據顯示，本月持有土耳其居留許可的俄羅斯人數量降至 96,000 人，比 2022 年底的 154,000 人減少了三分之一以上。

接受路透社採訪的九名俄羅斯公民表示，他們和其他人離開的部分原因是, 自 2023 年初以來他們難以獲得居留許可。許多人前往塞爾維亞和黑山，這是少數歡迎俄羅斯人的歐洲國家。

俄羅斯人在繼續搬往其他國家也因為成本飆升 - 土耳其通膨上個月達到70% - 以及制裁導致在土耳其進行基本銀行上的活動有困難。

拒絕透露自己姓氏的46 歲的 IT 部門員工 Dmitri 說: 「你無法預測自己在土耳其的未來」。

在總統普京於 2022 年 9 月宣佈動員招募俄羅斯男仕前往烏克蘭作戰後，Dmitri 離開聖彼得堡，在伊斯坦堡與妻子和四歲的兒子團聚。

但他說，2023 年 1 月，他的手機上出現一條短信，稱他的居留申請被拒絕，且沒有任何解釋。一個月後 Dmitri 離開伊斯坦堡。

他說: 「我簽了一年的租賃合同，但不得不把一切都拋諸腦後。我們搬到黑山是因為它的經濟和政治比土耳其更穩定」。

土耳其移民管理局表示，所有被拒絕居留許可申請的通知, 都包含以外國人自己的語言, 提供相關法律理由的根據。申請人可以自由地尋求法律補救措施。

管理局在一封電子郵件中表示，俄羅斯人的離開不僅與居留證有關。

該政府機構表示： “一些政治、經濟和社會文化因素發揮了作用。”

（待續）

Note:

1. Montenegro (literal translation: black mountain (黑山)) is a mountainous country located in the southwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Montenegro is bounded by Serbia in the northeast, Kosovo in the east (unilaterally declared independence on February 17, 2008), Albania in the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in the northwest, and the Adriatic Sea (part of the Mediterranean Sea) in the southwest. (Wikipedia)