Visa statement from Turkey’s foreign minister: “These are deliberate and we’ll take countermeasures, too”

Regarding the difficulties experienced by Turkish citizens when obtaining visas in the recent period, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “These are planned and deliberate.”

Stating that the United States and some European countries have extended their visa appointments by one year and have also increased their rejection rates, Çavuşoğlu said, “We are looking for intent. That’s how our people see it. We see them as steps taken to put the AK Party government in difficulty before the election.”

“THESE ARE PLANNED AND DELIBERATE”

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shared following about the difficulties experienced by Turkish citizens when obtaining visas in the recent period. Stating that the United States and some European countries had extended visa appointments by a year and had also increased refusal rates, he went on to say, “I also said in my most recent meeting with the German foreign minister, at a meeting with Blinken in New York: We are looking for intent. That’s how our people see it. We see them as steps taken to put the AK Party government in difficulty before the election.”

Cavusoglu said that if the problem wass not solved, Turkey would also take countermeasures and slow down the operations of these countries:

“All those excuses such as shortage of staff, Covid, I don’t believe them. They all work with visa companies. We also work with those companies in some countries and we employ additional staff during busy periods. They can solve it if they want, we are looking for intent here. There is no objectivity in the rejections they provide, they also reject people who have all kinds of documents and opportunities.”