Turkey Demands Schengen Visa Liberalization to Resolve Migration Situation
The European Union will have to grant visa-free entry to Turkish passport holders if they want the migrant and refugee situation at the Turkish-Greek border resolved, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stated this week, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to Cavusoglu, visa freedom for Turkey must be implemented in order to resolve the refugee crisis in Europe.
The Turkish Foreign Minister pointed out that visa freedom, as well as an update of the country’s custom union with the EU, are part of the migration agreement between Turkey and the European Union, signed in 2016.
He said that he hopes this situation will be resolved until the next regular EU summit, that will be held in Brussels, on March 26.
Last year, Cavusoglu had threatened that if the European Union does not grant visa-free entry for Turkish citizens, in the Schengen Area, its country will put an end to the migrant deal with the EU, signed in 2016.
At the time, the Minister had said that if the visa liberalization agreement with the EU is not reached, the deal would be suspended, asserting that the visa liberalization process should have happened by then.
“We will not wait at the EU’s door. The readmission agreement and visa-free deal will be put into effect at the same time,” he had said.
The 2016 EU-Turkey deal on migration was reached in a bid to stop migrants from using Turkey as their primary route, from going to Europe.
These statements of Minister Cavusoglu come after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled to Brussels on Monday to meet with officials of the European Union to discuss issues related to visa liberalization and refugees, at the invitation of President of the European Council Charles Michel.
