Do you think there's any chance of Brits, and the rest of the EU, getting free visas into Turkey?
Its one of the conditions of the visa free travel for Turks.
I'm waiting for an English translation of any gazette entries relating to it.
This was in the
HDN today:
"
Due to the reciprocity clause, Turkey implementing visa-free travel to EU citizens is one of the other criteria but this will not start to be implemented on May 4, as Turkey intends to put this clause into force on June 30, when the EU pledged to lift the visa-restrictions for Turkish citizens on condition of all criteria being met.
Turkey has sent an official commitment to the EU that it will implement the remaining criteria that cannot be met before May 4, to be implemented when the respective times come."
It's unlikely that the Turkish government will meet the seventy two conditions due to fisticuffs in parliament last week, but I have heard that several bills are being (or are about to be) passed to cover many of the missing sections. Personally, I dont see how they could possibly fulfil the ones relating to human rights and Cyprus, although
this comment from an EU official kinda explains it:
Among the trickiest conditions is non-discriminatory access to Turkey for citizens of all EU member states, which includes Cyprus, which Ankara does not officially recognize.
A senior EU diplomat belittled any suspense around the conditions, saying: "This is just a joke. We have already made the decision."
So, bottom line is that there should be visa free travel to Turkey at some point this Summer - whether it happens or not is something else.
JF
