President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated during Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker’s visit that visa liberalisation would be in the interests of both sides. Meanwhile, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz announced that new work had been initiated concerning the six remaining criteria required for visa liberalisation and that a new strategic approach had been adopted with the participation of the Ministries of Justice, Interior and Foreign Affairs. Vice President Yılmaz also emphasised the political nature of the process, underlining the need for the EU to adopt a constructive approach and demonstrate political will.

Having worked on the issue for many years, IKV Chairperson Dr. Ayhan Zeytinoğlu described these statements as highly significant and stressed that the process should be accelerated:

“Visa applications for Turkish citizens travelling to Schengen countries have long become a problematic and frustrating process. First of all, visa application fees, which amount to nearly €200 million annually, together with additional expenses for notary services, translations, appointments, intermediaries and other services, constitute a significant financial burden. In addition, the blocking of appointment channels by bot accounts, the workload at consulates and bureaucratic delays have caused the process to take far too long. A businessperson applying to attend a trade fair or a student travelling for an educational programme may lose the opportunity due to lengthy waiting times. Furthermore, the excessive number and level of detail of the documents requested, particularly from companies, can create concerns regarding the disclosure of commercially sensitive information. Rising rejection rates may also mean that lengthy waiting periods ultimately result in negative decisions.

For the citizens of a country that is the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner and its longest-standing candidate country, this situation is extremely difficult to accept. The visa liberalisation dialogue launched in 2013 had become stalled, particularly after the positive steps taken in 2016. Türkiye, having fulfilled 66 of the 72 criteria, now needs to complete the remaining six. In this respect, the statements made by President Erdoğan and Vice President Yılmaz are extremely important. A preparatory process coordinated by the Directorate for EU Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of the Ministries of Justice and Interior, followed by the fulfilment of the remaining criteria, would mean overcoming one of the most significant obstacles to visa liberalisation.

The remaining criteria, including the revision of the anti-terrorism legislation, the updating of the legislation on personal data protection, the establishment of an anti-corruption strategy, the conclusion of an operational cooperation agreement with Europol, judicial cooperation with EU Member States and, finally, the implementation of the EU-Türkiye Readmission Agreement, could be fulfilled swiftly. Following the necessary legislative updates, it will also be crucial for the EU side to act in good faith and refrain from placing new obstacles before Türkiye.

As civil society and the business community, we support this process and aim to overcome the visa problem in Türkiye-EU relations.”