Ankara to abolish visas for EU states

ANKARA: Turkey has agreed to abolish visa restrictions for all European Union citizens, including Greek Cypriots, passing one of the last remaining hurdles for it to secure visa-free access to Europe for its own nationals.

The Turkish cabinet late on Monday approved waiving visas for visitors from all 28 EU member states once Europe relaxes its own visa requirements for Turks, according to a decision published in the country’s Official Gazette. Although the visa waiver will apply to Greek Cypriots, a Turkish official told Reuters it did not amount to Turkish recognition of Cyprus.

Liberalising visa rules for Turkey, a Muslim country of 79 million people, is a contentious issue among EU states, but Brussels is pushing ahead to keep a migration accord in place that should help ease Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War II.

The European Commission is expected to declare on Wednesday that Turkey has broadly met the criteria for visa liberalisation and to ask EU governments and the European Parliament to approve the decision by the end of June. "With this decree, Turkey has fulfilled one more of the important benchmarks for visa liberalisation," European Commission spokesman Margaritas Schinas told a daily briefing in Brussels.

One of the biggest obstacles in Turkey’s relations with the EU is Ankara’s refusal to recognise EU member Cyprus, the Mediterranean island divided for four decades between the Turkish-controlled north, recognised only by Ankara, and the Greek Cypriot south, which has international recognition.

If the EU abolishes visas for Turkish citizens, then we will also abolish visas for the remaining EU countries," the Turkish official said on condition of anonymity because the full deal has not yet been finalised.