Turkish hotels continue to accept cards from the Russian payment system Mir, despite threats of sanctions from the United States and the European Union. True, now transactions go through little-known companies that accompany payments in Turkish outlets to Russian banks. Izvestia writes about this with reference to representatives of companies and participants in the Turkish tourism market.
Successful transactions with Russian cards, and not only the Mir system, but also Visa and Mastercard (issued by Russian banks), are known in five hotels in Turkey. As an example, the publication cites the Papillon network. The Papillon Zeugma Relaxury hotel, according to the publication, accepts Mir cards, and Papillon Belvil accepts “Russian” Visa and Mastercard. Transactions go through an intermediary between Turkish organizations and Russian banks, the Russian Sigma system acts in its role.
Sigma processes the Mir card holder's payment in Turkey, then sends a request to the bank that issued the card in Russia and transfers the funds to the accounts of the Turkish organization, leaving itself an additional commission. In addition, the conversion rate within the system significantly exceeds the exchange rate: 74 rubles per euro against 61 rubles. In the hotels of the Nirvana network, according to the publication, Mir cards also continue to be used, but the transaction partner was not named there.
The publication also claims that against the backdrop of sanctions pressure and the exodus of the Mir card from the world market, the demand for such intermediaries has increased among many counterparties in “friendly” countries, for example, in Belarus and Kazakhstan. The publication claims that the role of Sigma in these markets is performed by the Russian service for accepting payments PayAnyWay.
The Russian Mir system has faced pressure from sanctions following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders of the countries agreed to increase trade turnover, as well as the development of the Mir system in Turkey, which was supposed to make life easier for Russian tourists. However, Western countries perceived this decision as an opportunity to circumvent the sanctions regime, including in relation to Russian banks, after which the US and the EU held several rounds of negotiations with the Turkish authorities, and they were forced to back down – as a result, Turkish banks refused to accept Mir cards. ". However, market participants are still looking for ways to continue the cooperation of payment systems due to the high tourist flow to the republic.