Türkiye has launched investigations into seven companies over allegations that they used automated software to secure Schengen visa appointments and resell them for profit, media reports said on Wednesday.

The issue has also become a topic of debate in Parliament, where lawmakers submitted questions regarding claims that visa appointments were being collected through bots and sold commercially.

Responding to inquiries, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said Türkiye’s Advertising Authority had opened reviews into seven separate companies, according to the NTV broadcaster.

Authorities had received 143 complaints through the Presidential Communication Center (CIMER) and 10 applications via the e-Government platform concerning visa intermediary services over the past five years, Bolat said.

According to Bolat, complaints involving payments made to personal bank accounts through IBAN transfers and allegations of invoices not being issued have also been referred to the Treasury and Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry for further examination.

Last week, top tourism body said Turkish applicants were being effectively “shut out” of the Schengen visa application system, citing persistent appointment shortages and alleged technical manipulation of booking platforms.

Latest statistics showed Türkiye was the second-largest source of Schengen visa applications worldwide in 2025.

Applications to Schengen Area countries reached 11.93 million last year, an increase of 1.8% from 2024, according to European Commission.

Türkiye accounted for nearly 1.27 million applications, ranking second after China. The figure compared to 1.17 million in 2024 and just over 1 million in 2023.

The rejection rate for Turkish applicants stood at 14.6% last year, up 0.1 percentage points from 2024.

For years, Turkish citizens and businesses have complained about the EU’s visa system, including long appointment wait times, the issuance of very short-term visas and high rejection rates.

Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) on Friday claimed that the appointment system is being exploited, alleging that limited time slots were rapidly captured by automated bot accounts and later resold at significantly higher prices.

Bolat said are currently no specific consumer protection regulations governing the pricing, refund policies or disclosure obligations of companies providing visa application intermediary services. He said authorities are evaluating whether additional regulatory measures are needed in consultation with relevant institutions.

Complaints over limited availability and the emergence of a black market for appointments have intensified in recent years.

Appointments are said to be obtained through unofficial channels and resold for between 300 euros and 500 euros, with prices reportedly reaching as high as 1,000 euros in urgent cases, TÜRSAB chair Firuz Bağlıkaya said.

Bağlıkaya said the shortage of visa appointments was preventing many Turkish citizens from even submitting applications.

“Limited appointments are opened unexpectedly, often late at night, on holidays or weekends, and are quickly blocked by bots,” he said, adding that the appointments are subsequently offered for sale at inflated prices.

Bağlıkaya said the European Commission data has “proven us right,” citing statistics that showed the number of Turks who were able to apply for a visa to Italy declined by 32.3%, while the number of applications to France also decreased by nearly 6%.

“These declines are the clearest indication that our citizens have been unable to find visa appointments,” he noted.

The debate has also drawn international attention.

An investigation coordinated by the global journalism network Lighthouse Reports and conducted with 14 media organizations across 12 countries examined the operations of a major visa outsourcing company with more than 4,100 centers in 168 countries.

The report alleged that applicants were pressured into purchasing unnecessary add-on services, including SMS notifications, VIP lounge access and premium packages. It also raised concerns about data protection practices, appointment hoarding through automated systems, document handling errors and inadequate staff training.

According to the investigation, some visa appointments allegedly secured through bots were resold on secondary markets via travel agencies, while certain corruption allegations were reportedly not disclosed to contracting governments despite contractual obligations.

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The Trump administration has brought up a proposal for new tariffs ⁠of 10% and 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners ⁠after it said it determined that they failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labor, a finding described by a senior EU lawmaker as “utterly absurd.”

The proposal from the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, issued late on Tuesday, comes from a Section ​301 unfair trade practices investigation designed to help rebuild U.S. President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, which ​were ⁠struck down by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in February.

The USTR proposed 10% additional duties on imports from Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Britain. The USTR said all had plans or partial schemes in place.

The trade agency also said it would impose additional duties of 12.5% on the remaining 45 countries that it investigated. These include China, India, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

“This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.”

The USTR said it was also proposing a textile mechanism that would allow for a certain volume of apparel and textile imports to enter the U.S. at a reduced tariff rate, though the duties and ⁠volumes ⁠were not disclosed.

Europe says new tariffs are unjustified

The announcement comes ahead of the July 24 expiration of a 10% temporary tariff imposed by the Trump administration on Feb. 20, the day the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The European Commission said the tariffs were unjustified and reiterated its commitment to the trade deal sealed with Washington last year.

Bernd Lange, the chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, which voted on Tuesday to accept that trade deal, said the new tariffs were expected, but said the findings were still “utterly absurd” given a 2024 EU law to ban imports of forced labor products.

“The impression is increasingly emerging that a tariff measure is sought first, and only then is a suitable ⁠legal justification found,” he said. However, he added that the key question would be whether the additional tariffs would exceed those agreed between both sides last July.

The United States’ largest trading partner, the European Union, agreed last July to accept U.S. tariffs of 15% on a broad range of its exports.

In its ​report, the USTR said the EU measures only came into force in December 2027 and lacked certain key elements. Taiwan said it was “hopeful ​and confident” that the final results would reflect agreements already reached, securing relatively preferential treatment.

Beijing, facing 12.5% tariffs, said that it opposed all forms of unilateral tariffs and that there was no forced labor in China.

India, confronted with the ⁠same rate, said ‌it was engaged ‌with Washington on the Section 301 proceedings, noting the proposed tariffs were not final.

Earlier on Monday, the ⁠USTR proposed a 25% duty on many Brazilian goods as a result of ‌a Section 301 investigation into the country’s digital trade practices and preferential tariffs.

The trade agency is also expected to soon unveil the findings of another major Section ​301 probe into the buildup of excess ⁠industrial capacity in 16 trading partners, including China and the European Union.

In the forced labor findings, ⁠the USTR said it would exempt from the tariffs a number of products including energy, rare earths and some other metals, beef, ⁠coffee, certain fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, ​organic chemicals and aircraft parts.

The USTR said it would accept public comments on the proposed tariffs and other remedies through July 6, with a public hearing scheduled for July 7.

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Türkiye’s Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) has ruled that employers cannot use biometric data to monitor employees’ attendance, saying the practice violates the country’s personal data protection legislation.

According to a principle decision published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, the KVKK determined that processing employees’ biometric data for attendance tracking purposes cannot be justified under legal provisions, even if workers provide explicit consent.

The board said attendance monitoring systems based on biometric identifiers, including fingerprints, retina scans, facial and hand geometry, and voice characteristics, are incompatible with the principles of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data.

The ruling emphasized that employers should instead use less intrusive methods to track attendance, such as password-protected cards, PIN-based systems, traditional signature logs, paper attendance sheets, RFID or NFC identity cards, or manual registration under supervisory oversight.

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Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia on Tuesday marked the launch of full-capacity operations on a key freight and passenger link between Europe and China.

A vital segment of the Middle Corridor, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line was launched in 2017 and has since played a significant role in strengthening links between Asia and Europe.

Attending the ceremony in the Georgian town of Akhalkalaki, Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said the transport vision jointly advanced by Türkiye, Georgia and Azerbaijan is critical for the future of connectivity between Asia and Europe.

The three countries are also linked by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas line. Trade links between Türkiye and the Caucasus region were limited before the BTK was inaugurated.

The link starts in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, trains stop in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, pass through gauge-changing facilities in Akhalkalaki and end their journey in the northeastern Turkish town of Kars.

“The Middle Corridor and its key component, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, are not just regional transportation projects but strategic initiatives shaping the future of global connectivity,” Uraloğlu said.

The link reduces journey times between China and Europe to around 15 days, which is more than twice as fast as the sea route.

Trains can depart from cities in China, cross into Kazakhstan at the Khorgos Gateway, be transported across the Caspian Sea by ferry to the New Port of Baku and then be loaded directly onto the BTK and head to Europe.

Historical significance

Tuesday’s ceremony was also attended by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili and Azerbaijan’s Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev.

Kobakhidze said the project demonstrates the robust strategic relations between the three countries.

“This is a project of historical significance,” he noted.

Nabiyev echoed the view, saying the launch of the railway marked the beginning of a “new chapter” in the history of Eurasian connections.

“But that was just the beginning,” he added.

Nabiyev touted the line as the best transit route between the Caspian and Black Seas.

“We invested in the 184-kilometer section of the line that passes through Georgian territory. Thirteen stations, 55 bridges, eight traction substations, and more than 320 structures were constructed and put into service,” he noted.

He said this was not only a repair project, but a “strategic” decision to transform the line into the “backbone” of the Middle Corridor.

“The result is clear for all to see,” Nabiyev said.

Uraloğlu said the completion of infrastructure works on the Georgian section of the railway marks a new phase that will enable the line to operate more efficiently and effectively, further strengthening its role within the Middle Corridor.

The line has the capacity to transport one million passengers and 5 million tons of freight.

Critical timing

Uraloğlu said recent disruptions in critical maritime routes, supply chains and international trade networks had demonstrated the growing importance of overland transport corridors.

“Corridors once considered alternatives during times of crisis are, in fact, insurance policies for global trade,” Uraloğlu said. “Land corridors are no longer merely alternatives; they have become strategic components of global trade and supply-chain resilience.”

He added that having alternative routes alone is insufficient, stressing the need for high-capacity, reliable and uninterrupted transport networks.

“The world today does not only need new trade routes; it needs reliable trade routes,” he said, describing the completion of the BTK railway’s capacity expansion at a time of heightened global uncertainty as particularly significant.

Uraloğlu said the success of the Middle Corridor would depend not only on infrastructure investments but also on operational coordination, consistent cargo flows and service reliability.

“The world is looking not at the capacity of the BTK railway, but at its performance,” he said. “Our success will be measured not by the kilometers we build, but by the quality of service we provide, transit times and the confidence of users.”

He said connectivity had evolved beyond a transportation issue and become a key element of economic security, supply-chain resilience and sustainable development.

Türkiye continues to strengthen its role as a regional logistics hub through projects including the BTK railway, the Marmaray rail tunnel beneath the Bosporus, the Halkalı-Kapıkule railway project and broader logistics infrastructure investments, Uraloğlu said.

He also highlighted ongoing work on the INRAIL project, which is expected to increase rail freight capacity between Asia and Europe through Istanbul. Once completed, the project will provide a new uninterrupted 24-hour rail connection for freight trains between the two continents.

“The world is not looking for alternative routes anymore; it is looking for routes it can trust to function,” Uraloğlu said. “The future of global trade will belong not to the shortest routes, but to the most reliable ones.”

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Eurozone inflation picked up further in May as the Middle East war sent energy costs soaring, official data showed Tuesday, reinforcing the likelihood of an interest rate hike in the single currency area.

Consumer price rises accelerated to 3.2% last month, the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat said, up from 3.0% in April.

The reading was in line with forecasts from analysts polled by Bloomberg but lower than the 3.3% predicted by economists for FactSet.

Inflation in the single currency area is sharply higher than the 2% target set by the European Central Bank (ECB), following a third consecutive rise.

Of particular importance for the ECB ahead of its next meeting on June 11 is core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices.

Core inflation accelerated to 2.5% in May after 2.2% in April, Eurostat said, above the 2.4% forecast by economists for Bloomberg and FactSet.

Analysts and investors have been expecting the ECB to raise rates to signal its willingness to act in keeping a lid on inflation.

“This is the expected uptick in inflation that will motivate the central bank to decide on an ‘insurance’ hike,” ING Bank’s Carsten Brzeski said in a note.

The European Union’s economy is more vulnerable to fluctuations in energy prices because it is a net energy importer.

Energy price inflation rose to 10.9% in May from 10.8% in April, while services inflation surged to 3.5% last month from 3.0% in April.

The EU executive expects inflation to remain above the ECB’s target this year.

Brussels has sharply raised its forecast for inflation in the 21-nation eurozone to 3.0% this year, after a previous prediction of 1.9%.

“For inflation in the eurozone, the only way is currently up. Not a sharp up but a rather moderate and gradual lift,” Brzeski said.

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Housing costs continue to command an increasingly large share of Turkish household budgets, as data on Tuesday showed they accounted for almost a third of their spending in 2025.

Housing and rent category’s share in total household consumption expenditures rose to 29.3% from 26% in 2024, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

Transportation ranked second with a 20.5% share, down from 21.6% in the previous year.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages wrapped up the top three categories with a share of 17.3%, compared to 18.1% in 2024, the data showed.

At the other end of the scale, insurance and financial services represented just 0.8% of household spending, up from 0.7%, while education and health accounted for 1.8% and 2.2%, respectively. That compared to 1.6% and 2.3%, respectively, in the previous year.

Property sector has long been the main cause of distress among households as prices leaped since after the COVID-19 pandemic. The stickiness remained despite a downward trend in inflation since late 2023.

The Iran war has dented progress in disinflation this year. Consumer prices rose almost 4.2% month-over-month and nearly 32.4% on an annual basis in April, mainly driven by conflict-linked pricing pressures.

According to TurkStat, housing costs rose nearly 8% on monthly basis and were 46.6% higher compared to a year ago. The calculation based on the 12-month average of the consumer price index showed the rent increase rate for May stood at 32.43%.

Tuesday’s data also showed transportation spending among high-income households was more than three times higher, as a share of total expenditure, than among low-income households.

Households in the highest income quantile allocated 25.7% of their spending to housing and rent and 25% to transportation-related expenses, including vehicle purchases, fuel, passenger transport, maintenance and repairs.

Their spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 12.4% of total expenditures.

In contrast, households in the lowest income quantile spent 38.7% of their budgets on housing and rent and 29.2% on food and non-alcoholic beverages, while transportation represented only 8.6% of expenditures.

Spending patterns also varied according to households’ primary source of income.

Households whose main income came from wages and salaries allocated 26.4% of spending to housing and rent, 21.9% to transportation and 16% to food and non-alcoholic beverages.

For households primarily reliant on business or entrepreneurial income, housing and rent accounted for 25.5% of expenditures, while transportation represented 25.9% and food 17%.

Household size also played a significant role in spending priorities.

Single-person households devoted 41% of their budgets to housing and rent, by far their largest expense category, while spending 14.3% on food and 14.4% on transportation.

For households with six or more members, food and non-alcoholic beverages represented the largest spending category at 23.7%, followed by housing and rent at 22.4% and transportation at 18.1%.

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