The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agencies

Turkey's Security General Directorate is rumored to have cancelled a contract for designing and implementing biometric passports. According to reports, devices purchased for the project failed to insert digital photos on passports.

A joint venture comprising Turkey's Kunt Electronic and Malaysia's IRIS Technologies won the bid to supply the technology back in 2007. The deal included the supply of epassport enrolment and issuance system, PKI solutions and passport personalisation equipment over a 16-month period. IRIS estimated that once the system was up and running, the Turkish government would be able to issue ePassports from more than 200 locations.

In June 2008, SAFE ID Solutions confirmed it had been awarded a contract by IRIS-Kunt to supply its manual inkjet personalization system for the Turkish ePassport.

According to reports, the Security General Directorate has so far paid a total of TL 2.5 million to the IRIS-Kunt consortium and the passport infrastructure is now in place in 81 provincial security offices. It is now expected to issue a new tender. IRIS and Kunt have yet to comment on the development.

However in a statement to SDW, SAFE ID said: "SAFE ID has not received any official notice or information regarding reports suggesting that the Turkish General Directorate has cancelled the ePassport contract. "SAFE ID's manual passport printing systems are used in two projects in Turkey: the ePassport Project and the Seafarer Project.

In both, SAFE ID has fulfilled all its contractual obligations to the main contractor. As a subcontractor to the main contractor/system integrator, SAFE ID has no direct link to the end customer, and is therefore in no position to comment on the project status. SAFE ID would however regret a cancellation of this ambitious ePassport project, especially due to the fact that Turkey has been successfully using SAFE ID's personalisation machines since 2006 for the production of the Seafarer passports. SAFE ID will monitor the progress of the ePassport project carefully and will continue to support the customer to successfully implement and execute the project."