IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas realised a presentation on the Visa Liberalisation process of Turkish citizens in the context of a seminar which was held at Izmir University of Economics on 5 December 2016. The seminar was monitored by Assoc. Prof. Alexander Buergin and organised within the framework of the Jean Monnet seminars supported by the European Commission.

In her presentation, Assoc. Prof. Nas indicated that visa requirements have been applied to Turkish citizens for the first time by Germany in 1980 for short trips and then later by other Western European countries. With the signature and the entry into force of the Schengen Agreement in a later stage, she reminded that this led to the establishment of a new common framework with respect to visa requirements in Schengen area countries.

Furthermore, Assoc. Prof. Nas also pointed out to the legal, economic and human dimensions of the visa issue and underscored that the conclusions of the Soysal and Demirkan cases at the European Court of Justice constituted the limits of Turkey’s gains in that respect. Referring to the different cost of the Schengen visa applications, Assoc. Prof. Nas also highlighted the important economic burden of banking, notary and translation fees and added that the total amount of such fees had exceeded 300 million euros between 2009 and 2015. 

Moreover, Assoc. Prof. Nas also explained that first and foremost, the visa requirement constitutes a psychological barrier and the lifting of the visa requirements would have a positive effect in all areas of Turkey-EU relations. Indicating that Turkey-EU cooperation with respect to the refugee crisis had also contributed to an acceleration of the visa liberalisation process, Assoc. Prof. Nas also referred to the 72 criteria which are to be fulfilled within the framework of the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap. Within that scope, Assoc. Prof. Nas reminded that in the third report assessing the progress achieved by Turkey in terms of fulfilling the requirements of the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap published in May 2016, the Commission had proposed to lift the visa requirements. However, as a result of 7 criteria remaining to be fulfilled and also as a consequence of the need in revising the law regarding the fight against terrorism, she highlighted that the process has been stalled.