Turkish banks have finally stopped working with the Russian payment system "Mir": now it will not be possible to withdraw money or pay with cards. This was reported by the local NTV channel, but there was no official confirmation of this information.
According to the channel, following the private İş Bankasi and DenizBank, the state-owned Ziraat Bank, Vakifbank and Halkbank also refused to work with the Russian system. The publication claims that it will not be possible to withdraw money from ATMs or branches using Russian cards, as well as pay for goods and services through terminals of outlets.
At the same time, the Aydinlik publication claims that the Turkish authorities are already looking for an alternative in order to preserve the possibility for Russians to pay for goods and services in Turkey. The issue is discussed at the highest level, it is personally supervised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The publication claims that the president demanded to develop alternative options and submit them within 2-3 days.
The Mir payment system actually ceased to be international after increased pressure from the United States and the European Union on countries that continued to cooperate with the Russian company despite the sanctions. In September, representatives of Western countries held several meetings and negotiations with representatives of countries where the system was still working, primarily with Turkish representatives. After that, Turkey, Armenia, Kazakhstan and even Vietnam began to refuse cooperation with the Mir system. Western countries believe that Mir can be used to circumvent Western sanctions.