09 November 2016 — A team from the Philippine Embassy in Ankara conducted a consular mission and engaged in community building, cultural and economic activities in Istanbul from October 29 to 31. 

The Embassy provided consular services to 173 Filipinos. The team processed sixty-four (64) ePassport applications, eight (8) acknowledgements, four (4) translations, four (4) certifications, two (2) SPAs, one (1) reports of marriage, one (1) report of birth, and one (1) travel document. The Embassy also received forty-one (41) applications for Embassy ID registrations of Filipinos in Turkey, and released forty-five (45) ePassports and forty-five (45) Overseas Filipino IDs. The team also provided ATN services to three (3) Filipinos and addressed various inquiries.

The Embassy personnel also visited Miniatürk along Istanbul’s Golden Horn shore. Miniatürk is one of the largest miniature parks in the world featuring over 100 models that showcase Turkey’s rich cultural and architectural heritage dating back from the Ottoman Empire to more recent times.

Separate teams conducted community building activities in churches frequented by Filipinos – the Cathedral of Holy Spirit in Harbiye and Every Nation Church in Istanbul and invited the Filipinos present to attend the parol workshop, which was held in the afternoon of the same day.

Philippine Ambassador to Turkey Maria Rowena Mendoza-Sanchez met with Ms. Deniz Sümerpalazoğlu, Sales Manager of Emirates Airlines in Turkey, to discuss possible ways to increase the number of arrivals of tourists and businessmen from Turkey to the Philippines. Ms. Sümerpalazoğlu informed Ambassador Sanchez that Emirates Airlines is trying to generate interest in new markets in Southeast Asia and that a group of Turkish travel agencies and tour operators came back recently from a familiarization tour of the Philippines. END