Tourism Minister of Turkey Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Tuesday that local authorities are working on a long-term solution to the country's problems with the use of the Russian Mir payment system.
"Russian tourists who use the Mir system for payment have no problems with cash. Work is being carried out on a long-term solution to the problem of using this system," the Dünya business daily quoted the minister as saying.
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructed relevant ministries to study alternatives to the use of Mir cards in the country. This issue was discussed at the governmental meeting on September 26, as well as at the September 23 meeting of the president with the heads of the ministry of Finance, the central bank and the leading local banks. The decisions taken at these meetings are not reported.
On September 16, private Turkish banks Is Bankasi and Denizbank announced the suspension of accepting Mir cards following the statement of the US Department of Treasury about their intention to impose sanctions for supporting Russia's attempts to expand the use of its payment system abroad.
Ziraat Bankasi, VakifBank and Halkbank state banks currently accept Mir cards in Turkey.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: State Duma of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS