BIOMETRIC PASSPORTS TO TAKE EFFECT IN TURKEY IN JUNE

ANKARA (A.A) - 11.05.2010 - The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that biometric passports would take effect in Turkey on June 1.
Turkish citizens who are willing to get new biometric passports, prepared in international standards, will start getting appointment from the Police Department on May 23.
To prevent any problems, new passports will be posted to citizens. Turkey's consulates will give passports to citizens living abroad.
The regular passports will be red, diplomatic passports will be black and special passports will continue to be green in this new system.
Around 5 million people actually have passports in Turkey, and almost 2.3 million Turkish passports are renewed or their terms are extended in Turkey and in Turkey's foreign representations every year. 
New passports will be valid only for the term written on it, and they will not be extended.
The police departments will continue to extend terms of old passports till the end of this year, but will stop extending passports in 2011.
A biometric passport, also known as an e-passport or ePassport, is a combined paper and electronic passport that uses biometrics to authenticate the identity of travelers. It uses contactless smart card technology, including a microprocessor chip (computer chip) and antenna (for both power to the chip and communication) embedded in the front or back cover, or center page, of the passport.     
The chip inside the passport contains information about the holder's face such as the distances between eyes, nose, mouth and ears. These details are taken from the passport photograph that you supply. They can then be used to identify the passport-holder. The chip also holds the information that is printed on the personal details page of your passport.