Posted: 03/30/2021

IOM Turkey, Immigration and Border Management Department conducted an inter-agency exercise. The exercise aims to test the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) based on scenarios developed for day-to-day operations and emergency situations. The exercise was conducted between 9-10 March 2021 at Esenboğa Ankara Airport within the scope of the EU funded Improvement of Customs Enforcement Capacity Project. The activity was facilitated by two national experts and was attended by a total of 25 participants from the Ministry of Trade (MoT), Turkish National Police (TNP), General Directorate of Customs Enforcement, State Airport Authority (SAA), and major airline companies. The two-day programme included the execution of two selected scenarios based on the international passenger with the COVID-19 suspicion and unclaimed baggage topics and provided a good platform of discussion for participants to provide their comments, proposals and inputs into scenarios and SOPs. Within the scope of the project, the activity is expected to contribute to strengthening the practical aspects of inter-agency cooperation based on the developed SOPs.