Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used a post-Cabinet press conference in Ankara to argue that the country's ongoing 'Terror-Free Türkiye' initiative is as much an economic project as a security one — and tourism features prominently in the pitch.
Speaking on 9 November, he named a string of eastern and southeastern provinces — Hakkari, Şırnak, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Mardin and Ağrı — as places that could one day draw international visitors on the scale of Istanbul or Antalya. These regions hold some of the country's most striking historical and natural sights, from Van's vast lake and castle to Mardin's old stone hillside towns, but decades of insecurity kept them off most foreign itineraries. If the peace process holds, the government expects investment, trade and visitor numbers across all 81 provinces to benefit.
The speech also carried hard numbers. Erdoğan announced new oil discoveries at two fields — Gaziler and Çardaklı — in the southeastern Gabar region, with an estimated 135 million barrels in place. Production there hit 84,000 barrels a day in October from 184 wells, with a target of more than 100,000 barrels a day by the second half of 2027; at 120,000 barrels daily, he estimated around $4.4 billion in annual economic value. He added that Black Sea natural gas already supplies 4 million households, with the Osman Gazi floating production platform set to double that capacity.
The wider economic framing matters for the travel sector: Erdoğan reaffirmed national targets of $300 billion in exports and tourism revenues above $70 billion, with stability presented as the precondition for both. He also pointed to developments across the border in Iraq's Sinjar region, where more than 4,000 armed group members have begun integrating into Iraqi security forces.
For travellers, none of this changes the practical reality on the ground today. Istanbul, Cappadocia, Antalya and the Aegean coast remain the staples, and the southeast's headline sights — Diyarbakır's old city walls, Mardin's architecture, the lakeside monasteries near Van — are already reachable for independent visitors willing to go beyond the classic circuit. But if the initiative delivers, the destinations Erdoğan name-checked are the ones most likely to see new flights, hotels and restored heritage sites in the years ahead. Anyone who has visited Mardin or Lake Van recently will tell you the region rewards the effort now; it may simply get much easier to reach soon.
