Turks ready themselves for new ID regime

Turks embrace biometric data for new ID card system (TMC – Cloud Computing)

Next month’s roll-out of a compulsory biometric system will end the present different-colored card system – pink for women and blue for men – which Turks have been using for almost 40 years.

While many countries today do not require their citizens to carry ID cards, for Turkey this is just the latest evolution of a well-established identity system. The first Turkish IDs were issued in 1882 and contained essential details such as height, eye color – or whether men wore mustache or beard.

Next month’s change takes place against a backdrop of much more modern concerns. As society becomes more conscious about identity theft and hacking, the new cards have created a debate about the security of storing personal data.

Turkey looks to biometrics to enable structural change

Upcoming reforms in Turkey to ban any actions against statehood (Trend)

UPDATE:
Via twitter, @canmutlu writes that the article linked above refers to biometric national ID cards rather than (as the article states, twice) passports.

This rings true from a practical standpoint, and based upon this short article from Planet Biometrics: Turkey’s PM unveils biometric ID card plan.

We very much appreciate his pointing this out.

UPDATE II:
It looks like someone at Trend got the message, as well.

New biometric identity cards to be issued in Turkey (Trend)

Biometrics for refugees

Turkey adopts biometrics to manage Syrian refugees (Daily Sabah)

Officials from Turkish Prime Ministry’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said yesterday that they completed the biometric registration of 740,000 Syrians in the country that hosts about 1.1 million displaced Syrians. AFAD hosted a symposium yesterday that was attended by deputy governors from around the country to address the problems related to displaced Syrians.