Another Turkish bank, HalkBank starts accepting Mir cards

MOSCOW. June 24 (Interfax) - Another Turkish lender, HalkBank has begun accepting the cards of Russia's Mir payment system, the latter said on its website.

"In Turkey you can withdraw cash and pay for purchases at the terminals of banks Turkiye Is Bankasi, Ziraat Bankasi, VakifBank, DenizBank and Halkbank," Mir's technical support department confirmed to Interfax.

It also said that some banks can independently make decisions to suspend servicing the cards of Russian banks subject to blocking sanctions and refuse Mir card transactions on their end.

The first deputy governor of Russia's Central Bank, Olga Skorobogatova said earlier that Mir cards are about 50% accepted in Turkey. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on May 18 that terminals for Mir card payments would be installed at Turkish hotels.

Mir cards are now accepted in ten countries, including Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.