Civil registry officials in the southern border province of Kilis are facing criminal charges over an alleged scheme that issued forged identity cards and passports to foreign nationals, according to Turkish prosecutors. The case is the latest strand in a widening network of forgery investigations that has already shaken the country’s education and political systems.

Authorities launched the investigation after residents in multiple provinces discovered that officials in Kilis—a city on Turkey’s border with Syria—had issued new biometric Turkish identity cards in their names without their consent.

The probe expanded in December 2021, when two Uzbek nationals were detained at Kilis bus station carrying fraudulent documents. They told police they had paid intermediaries—named in court filings as Tarık Avcı and Murat Avcı—to arrange appointments at the Kilis civil registry office, where they gave fingerprints and photographs in exchange for official identity cards.

According to prosecutors, the intermediaries were in contact with registry officials including district director Mehmet Bars and clerks Vedat Kaya and Mahmut Apaydın. Investigators allege these officials had direct access to the government database, enabling them to alter biometric and photographic data linked to genuine Turkish citizens’ records.

At least 22 diplomatic and service passports, along with eight ID cards, were allegedly issued in this way. In one case cited in court documents, a Syrian national under “temporary........

© Medyascope