Is visa liberalization a dream for Turkey or will EU stick to its word this time?
Turkey a country right next to Europe – with major part in Asia – has been longing for the day it will be admitted to EU, for many years now. However let alone being admitted to the union as a full member, Turkey has not even able to manage to get the right for its citizens to travel in EU without visa.
This is no doubt a very discouraging and even belittling situation as many Turks believe. However when one looks at the picture from the EU point of view one can see EU has its points too and indeed at a time when the Union has been struggling hard enough with already existing internal problems economic ones to be in the first row.
Despite this situation the Syrian Refugee Crisis seems to have played an unbelievably important role – and totally unpredicted as well – in opening a new gate of hope for Turkey to give its citizens the good news they can travel in EU without visa.
The EU in desperate need to stop the refugee flow from the Middle East to prevent and avoid an unbearable eventual pressure from EU citizens has had to cooperate with Turkey – call it involuntary if you like. PM Merkel, the heading power of the union has truly tried hard to shape up an agreement with the Turkish part to put a stop to flow of more refugees into EU, in return for a few billions of Euros to be spared for this cause and also to provide Turkey with a genuine support to accelerate and finalize non-visa travelling right of Turkish citizens in Europe.
Within this frame work it is understood that the European Union is going to propose visa liberalization for this country on May 4 if it takes necessary measures to fulfil remaining benchmarks
It is also reported that The European Union’s executive said on Wednesday it would propose on May 4 granting Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the bloc from late June in a deal under which it is to stop irregular refugee flux into Europe – provided Ankara meets the remaining conditions.
A first European Commission report on implementation of last month’s EU-Turkey agreement said good progress had been made but more resources and commitments were needed to carry out sustained returns of refugees from Greece to Turkey and to resettle Syrian refugees from Turkey directly to Europe.
