Interior Minister Çiftçi: We have distributed 2,800 handheld detectors so our personnel can conduct searches when necessary

Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi spoke at the promotional event for migration advisory vehicles held at Ankara University Faculty of Science. Stating that 42 migration advisory vehicles are in operation across 10 provinces, Minister Çiftçi said, "Previously, our Presidency of Migration Management had 375 mobile migration vehicles in its inventory.

During the years when we were fighting irregular migration intensively, these were vehicles that generally served to question foreigners and take their fingerprints. However, because our country has moved beyond being both a transit and a target country, we have now converted our mobile migration vehicles into migration advisory vehicles.

As of today, 42 of our migration advisory vehicles are serving in 10 of our provinces. These provinces are Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Sakarya, Eskişehir, Konya, Antalya, Bursa, Karabük, and Kütahya. We plan to increase the number of these provinces to 40 and the number of our vehicles to 75 by the end of this year," he said.

"We are making the processes easier and simpler"

Stating that foreign nationals will be able to carry out their transactions more easily with these vehicles, Minister Çiftçi said the following:

"In our migration advisory vehicles, students and international students can carry out the fingerprinting and address registration procedures that they previously had to go to provincial migration directorates to complete. By coming to these vehicles, our colleagues help them in a short time. Our President has set a target of 1 million international students for us. To reach this target, we have launched such an application to make the processes of our international students, who are also our guests in our country, faster, easier, and simpler. We plan to expand this application to all our universities in the coming periods. Thus, we are bringing the service to our international students. We are making their processes easier and simpler. These vehicles do not only serve our students. They also serve foreigners who are sick, elderly, or disabled—the disadvantaged groups I mentioned who cannot come to our migration directorates. By going to their locations, by going to their homes, we can provide these types of services to these disadvantaged groups without them having to come to the migration administration. I can say in advance that our Presidency of Migration Management will appear before you with other and different services in the coming periods."

"We have prepared a joint protocol between 7 ministries"

Making statements regarding security measures in schools, Minister Çiftçi stated that the protocol signed between 7 ministries will soon come into effect, saying, "As the Ministry of Interior, we have measures we take in the school yard, around the school, and outside the yard. We have also started a new practice specific to this year. 7 ministries have come together. The Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Health—we have prepared a joint protocol between 7 ministries. We plan to sign this protocol in the coming days and raise the security of our schools to the highest level. We want our students to come to their schools in safety and return to their homes in peace," he expressed.

"We have employed 31 thousand grounds personnel"

Noting that there will be 31 thousand grounds personnel in schools this year, Minister Çiftçi said, "Again this year, with the help of our Minister of Labor and Social Security, we have employed 31 thousand grounds personnel. We announced this to all our governors. In line with the demands from them, 31 thousand personnel will take part in school yards for the first time this year. Apart from these, as the Ministry of Interior and as governorates, we already had security measures based on risk assessment. We determine first, second, third, and fourth-degree risky schools every year. We take measures accordingly. We have police officers in first and second-degree risky schools. We have coordination officers in third and fourth-degree risky schools. They are in contact with the schools. They are already continuing. Apart from these, our governorates have made their plans. We will focus on inspections in the coming days," he said.

"We have also distributed 2,800 handheld detectors to our grounds personnel in schools"

Stating that handheld detectors have been given to school grounds personnel to better implement security measures in schools, Minister Çiftçi said, "Our security branches, public order branches, narcotics branches, and child protection branches will increase operations around schools. They will remove people who have no connection to the school from the vicinity. We will also periodically inspect internet cafes, game halls, and places where students might enter. We will also focus on school bus inspections so that our students can reach school in safety. We have also distributed 2,800 handheld detectors to our grounds personnel in schools. To ensure that searches can be conducted when necessary in cases deemed suspicious," he said.

"Our operations were operations we carried out within the framework of a safe school"

Speaking about the recent operations, Minister Çiftçi said, "Our operations were also operations we carried out within the framework of a safe school. They were large-scale operations. The first was a major operation against criminal organizations, mostly aimed at recruiting members from the cyber realm, targeting 1,008 suspects in 48 provinces. In these operations, our police and gendarmerie units took part under the coordination of our governors and Chief Public Prosecutor's Offices. In the second operation, we carried out a larger operation targeting 2,447 suspects at 78 points. This operation was against criminal organizations that we call new-generation criminal organizations, also known as street gangs, which we have been focusing on with sensitivity since we took office," he said.

"Our operations against criminal organizations will continue decisively"

Expressing that they will continue to fight against crime and criminals with the same determination, Minister Çiftçi said, "As it has been until today, our operations against criminal organizations will continue decisively from now on, with the work and coordination of our Ministry of Justice, our governorates, our Chief Public Prosecutor's Offices, our police, and our gendarmerie," he said.