Seven Palestinians disappear in Turkey over past month

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry announced this week that it was following up after seven Palestinians disappeared in Turkey over the past month.
Six were first declared missing, four of them in Istanbul, one was in central Turkey in Konya city, and one near the Turkey-Greece border, and the seventh was later declared missing in Istanbul.
Among the seven disappeared Palestinians are two women, 3 of them are from the Gaza Strip and the 4 others are from the occupied West Bank.
The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Turkey and the Consulate General in Istanbul have formed a crisis cell to manage the issue which is in contact with Turkish authorities.
The embassy called on anyone who has information on the disappeared citizens to submit to authorities and called on all Palestinians in Turkey to be vigilant and careful and to ensure that their legal status in terms of residence in the country is settled according to relevant laws.
Turkey has been an attractive destination for the Palestinians as the relatively empathetic visa process makes it an easy place to go to.
About 10 to 12 thousand Palestinians are living in Turkey, holding Palestinian or Jordanian passports, according to the UK-based Palestinian Return Centre.
According to the head of the Tourism and Travel Agents Association in the Gaza Strip, Wasim Mushtaha, between 2,800 and 3,500 visa applications for Turkey are received monthly, sometimes more.