Biometrics use in Turkey expands from migration system to ATMs

Turkey is the legendary link between Europe and Asia and has become a bottleneck for migrants fleeing crises in the Middle East and Central Asia, hoping to reach Europe. The country has made deals with the EU for managing the flow of migrants and now reveals the results of putting its vast biometric database of foreigners to use.

Fingerprint database access allows instant identification of border crossers

Turkey’s National Biometric Fingerprint System now contains the fingerprints of 5.5 million foreign nationals, mainly Syrian refugees and which have now been made available to multiple government agencies, reports Railly News.

The database is now accessible to various institutions such as the General Directorate of Migration Management, meaning authorities can detect an illegal border crossing in 2.5 seconds.

Since late March 2021, the Migration Administration has made 610 fingerprint enquiries and created 158,000 new records. Scanning equipment is mobile and agency vehicles patrol border areas for intercepting mass border crossing.

Facial recognition software has reportedly been used by the government to analyze photographs of protests to identify anti-government demonstrators.

The Immigration Administration is conducting a study with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into collecting fingerprints at the point of visa application.

For Turkish nationals heading into the EU, the bloc is apparently ready to continue discussions with country on visa liberalization, reports the Daily Sabah, as the head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut visits the country.

As part of a deal between the EU and Turkey in 2016, the former promised visa-free travel for Turkish people for stays in the Schengen zone of up to 90 days every 180 days. With that would also come €6 billion (US$7.3 billion) of EU funding to help Turkey pay to improve the situation of migrants in the hope that they would not continue the journey into the bloc, especially via dangerous sea crossings.

Turkey has complained that it has not received the funding. The EU says Turkey still needs to fulfil certain criteria for visa liberalization relating to the definition of terrorism and the protection of personal data.

Yapi Kredi bank partners with Diebold Nixdorf to launch biometric ATMs

400 biometric-enabled ATMs have been installed across Turkey by Yapi Kredi, the country’s third-largest private bank. These are the first DN Series ATMs in the country and offer DN AllConnect Services which provider greater user personalization as well as NFC and fingerprint biometrics.

The network which promises to be more secure, more efficient and more comprehensive is the result of a collaboration with banking technology developer, Diebold Nixdorf.

“We’re proud to partner with one of Turkey’s digital banking pioneers,” said Diebold Nixdorf Turkey General Manager, Banking, Murat Karagozoglu. “With DN Series, Yapi Kredi’s customers can complete their banking on the most integrated, efficient and secure self-service solution available in the industry today. Our DN AllConnect Services coupled with the real-time data-monitoring provided by DN AllConnect Data Engine ensures maximum availability and performance.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  border management  |  facial recognition  |  financial services  |  fingerprint recognition  |  identity verification  |  Turkiye  |  visas