EGEMEN BAGIS CLARIFIES THE ISSUE OF VISA EXEMPTION

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis evaluated the statement of the European Commission that Turkish citizens providing services would be allowed to enter Germany, Holland and Denmark without having to obtain visas.

Receiving the Honorary President of the Turkish Special Athletes Sports Training and Rehabilitation Association (TOSSED) Dilek Sabanci and the Vice Chair of the Sabanci Foundation Husnu Pacacioglu at the Ortakoy Office of the Ministry for European Union Affairs, Bagis answered the questions of the journalists.

Indicating that the decision by 3 countries to exempt Turkish citizens from obtaining visas or not to require visas for those providing services which appeared on the newspapers was in fact about the countries which were added while revising an EU document, Bagis said, “However, visa exemption document instead of visa is required in those countries. Obtaining a visa exemption document is harder than obtaining a visa. Therefore, I request our citizens not to rely on attitudes such as “No need for a visa anymore, so let's go!”

Upon a question asking the statement of the European Commission that Turkish citizens providing services would be allowed to enter Germany, Holland and Denmark without having to obtain visas, Bagis reminded that they initiated an important process regarding visa exemption. Noting that they had a demand for 30 years, Bagis further said:

“We wanted the European Commission to receive mandate from all Member States to start visa exemption talks with Turkey. Thanks to the persistent and determined stance Turkey adopted, 27 countries authorized the European Commission to initiate the visa exemption negotiations with Turkey. As Turkey we are now waiting for the European Commission to prepare a road map which would allow certain of both their and our expectations to be met mutually with a view to removing the visa requirement for all the citizens in the forthcoming period. We hope that if the road map prepared, following being shaped and agreed upon, starts to be implemented, we will witness the removal of the visa requirement for us as well in 2-3 years time as happened in other countries.”

Noting that they carried on with this process in coordination with Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they would give the good news when the process is finalized, Bagis stated that Turkey would present its firm stance in the event that some countries in the EU place certain unacceptable political conditions into the road map at this stage.

Source: AA