Turkey’s visa liberalization process will again be brought up for discussion, as Turkish authorities and EU officials will meet again over the next month to discuss the process, as well as other priority topics such as migration, internal affairs and security.
This statement was made by Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey Faruk Kaymakci.
According to him, the visa-free regime between Turkey and the EU countries will allow more than 20 million Turkish citizens to visit European countries for tourism purposes and participate in other sectors of the European economy, such as the service sector, business and transport.
“We will also analyze if we can bring a new perspective on the migration issue between Turkey and the EU,” Kaymakci said, stressing that providing funds to migrants and refugees in Turkey does not solve the problem.
In connection with this issue, earlier this month, Kaymakci said that “Turkey’s membership in the EU is not a fiction, but a strategic vision, and EU accession will be most beneficial when the candidate for Turkey meets the objective criteria for membership.”
On December 16, 2013, a dialogue on visa liberalization between the EU and Turkey was launched, following the signing of a readmission agreement between the EU and Turkey.
The visa liberalization process aims to abolish visa requirements for Turkish citizens and allow them to travel to the Schengen countries for a short period, namely up to 90 days within a 180-day period.
In order to complete this process, the Turkish authorities are constantly trying to fulfill the requirements of the European Commission, but the process has not yet been completed.
Last year, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the EU would have to abolish visa requirements for Turkish citizens who plan to visit EU countries if they want the refugee and migrant situation on the Turkish-Greek border to be resolved.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that the process of liberalizing the visa regime with the Schengen countries is one of the country’s top priorities.
Turkey is home to more than five million refugees, especially since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. However, the issue of migration and refugees has caused a lot of discussion among the Turkish authorities.