Soon Visa-free Travel for Turkish Citizens to European Union

Citizens of Turkey will soon be able to travel to the European Union without requiring to apply for a visa. According to a government official, Turkey has fulfilled the 72 requirements set by the European Union. The official is Ibrahim Kalin, who is the spokesperson for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey.

He also confirmed that Turkey has already sent ahead all the required documents. A European Union-Turkey summit will be held in March 2018 to talk about visa-free travel and business. Kalin hopes that the visa-free travel regime gets implemented in 2018 only as it will give a new momentum to the Turkey - European Union relationship. Visa-free travel has initially been a part of the 2016 European Union-Turkey deal, but the latter was unable to meet all 72 requirements. One of the significant requirements put forward was for Turkey to amend its anti-terror law. Even though Kalin didn’t provide any details about the law, he confirmed that amendments were made and approved by the European Union.

Apart from the anti-terror law, Turkey didn’t get the visa-free access in 2016 because of the 2015 failed military coup and a repetitive suicide bombing in multiple Turkish cities. In the last three years, Turkey was able to build a new image for itself. President Erdogan stood strongly against the terrorists and reduced extremism. Alexander Winterstein, spokesperson, European Union, said that during the summit, both countries will talk about recent developments and mutual interests in Turkey. Two of the main topics are going to be the rule of law and fundamental rights.

The Summit

Turkish president Erdogan will be meeting Jean-Claude Juncker, EU president, Donald Tusk, European Council President, Boyko Borissov, Bulgarian president on March 26th, 2018. The summit will be going to held in Varna, Bulgaria. It is held in Bulgaria as it keeps the bloc's rotating presidency.