Gemalto has announced its selection by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey for its ePassport program. Gemalto provides its Coesys Issuance solution for the personalization of new electronic passports for Turkish citizens, including the certificate authority solution and associated integration services.

For Turkey’s 72.5 million citizens, electronic passports are issued for new applications as well as renewals as of June 1, 2010. Gemalto deployed the Coesys Issuance personalization solution in two service centers in Turkey: one on the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the other housed in the Turkish Police center in Ankara. Gemalto has also undertaken the training of the staff operating the solution.

The success of this project is attributed to Gemalto’s strong presence in Turkey, to respond to the short time frame that was essential for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Naci Koru, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, commended the collaboration with Gemalto, “We chose Gemalto for their experience in the personalization and in the successful deployment of many electronic passports programs worldwide. Their ability to deliver the solution in a short time frame enabled us to meet our deadline of June 1, 2010.”

This project reinforces Gemalto’s committment in the personalization of secure identity documents. With over 25 servicing implementations all over the world, Gemalto has demonstrated its ability to offer dedicated and unique solutions ready to adapt to any legacy infrastructure.

“Our strength in the delivery of the Turkish passport project comes from our ability to respond quickly and efficiently, and our relentless dedication to our customers’ success and satisfaction,” commented Jacques Seneca, Executive Vice President, Gemalto. “We demonstrated our solution’s flexibility in the personalization of legacy passports, which brings significant scale benefits for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”