Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has declared travel by Iranians to the city of Antalya in Turkey as forbidden and called for preventing propaganda regarding such trips.
According to a report by the Javan newspaper on Monday, 13 Ordibehesht, Ayatollah Khamenei described Antalya in his classroom the previous day as a city where “immoral acts take place and renders the trip invalid.”
Based on the report from this newspaper affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the leader of the Islamic Republic expressed hope that cultural officials and parliament would pass laws to prevent “forbidden trips” from being advertised.
In its report, Javan newspaper criticized the annual travel of four million Iranians to Turkey and Thailand and wrote: “Perhaps the government, out of respect for individuals’ personal freedoms, has not prevented travel to tourist destinations known for corruption, but it can at least prevent the organization of direct tours from Iran to these countries or at least prevent widespread advertisements of tour packages to these destinations.”
Babak Nemat Pour, a guide for Iranian domestic and international tours, had stated in Farvardin of this year that the number of Iranian tourists who traveled to Antalya during last year’s Nowruz was approximately 80,000 people, but this year due to insecurity in Turkey, this number decreased to 40,000 people.
The city of Antalya is considered one of the tourist attractions for Iranian tourists.
Source: Radio Zamane
