ID :
164083
Fri, 02/25/2011 - 22:15
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/164083
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Turkey finds EU decision on visa issue far from meeting expectations
ANKARA (A.A) - 25.02.2011 - Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that decision of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council to "initiate visa dialogue" did not meet the expectations.
Foreign ministry released a statement and said, "as is known, in the context of our demarches before the EU member States and institutions to initiate a process that will lead to a visa-free regime for Turkish citizens, Turkey was requested to fulfill the obligation of signing a Readmission Agreement. The negotiations on the Agreement were concluded at the end of January, with the constructive approaches of Turkey and the EU Commission."
The statement said, "our position on the Readmission Agreement has been clearly and repeatedly conveyed to our EU counterparts. As expressed in our Ministry's press release of December 14, 2010, the conclusion and initialing of the Readmission Agreement should be carried out in parallel to the initiation of the visa dialogue process between Turkey and the EU Commission towards a visa free regime. This is a gradual process which should be started with visa liberalisation in its first phase and concluded with a visa free regime".
"The increasing number of decisions recently taken by the courts in EU member states indeed prove that the existing visa procedures for our citizens has no legal validity," it said, adding, "since the beginning of the negotiations on the Readmission Agreement, we have, in line with our position outlined above, firmly conveyed to our counterparts on every occasion that we will not sign the Agreement unless our demand on this issue is not met."
The statement said, "the Conclusions of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council of February 24, 2011 on this issue is far from fulfilling our expectation. What we anticipate is that the EU Council mandates the EU Commission to start the negotiations with Turkey, in a way that will fully meet our expectation. As long as this expectation is not met, the Readmission Agreement will not be signed, initialled or implemented."
Separately, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu in his meeting with EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom, stated that Turkey was not a second class country and that its stance on the matter was very clear.
"We have fulfilled our obligations. However, our expectations were very clear while doing that. We asked EU to authorize the European Commission to start talks on visa-free travel in parallel to readmission agreement. Unfortunately, it is not a clear authorization. It refers to a 'visa dialogue' in an ambiguous expression. Dialogue is not a goal, it is a process. We want to see the goal to be achieved at the end of process," he said.
Davutoglu said Turkey has no more confidence in verbal commitments, indicating that Turkey would fulfill its promises as long as the commitments were fulfilled. "Our stance is clear. Turkey does no way accept a treatment different than subject to any other country," Davutoglu said.
EU interior ministers decided earlier to start "visa dialogue" with Turkey by approving the readmission agreement. EU officials said there could be visa exemptions for some groups, such as students and researchers.
In December 2009, Turkey asked EU to start visa exemption process for entry of Turkish nationals. In return, EU asked Turkey to finalize readmission agreement, after which Turkey will shoulder a heavy burden like extradition of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants who sneak into EU countries via its territories, launch of biometric passports and transition into integrated border management system.
Ankara expects the EU to allow Turkish citizens to travel to member states without visa in a gradual way. However, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, France and Greek Cypriot administration object it.
The EU, which has launched visa free travel with all candidate and potential candidate countries except Kosovo so far, is negotiating with its neighbors including Russia, Ukraine and Moldova to lift visa procedures.
EU's visa facilitation agreement with Georgia will take effect next month.
Foreign ministry released a statement and said, "as is known, in the context of our demarches before the EU member States and institutions to initiate a process that will lead to a visa-free regime for Turkish citizens, Turkey was requested to fulfill the obligation of signing a Readmission Agreement. The negotiations on the Agreement were concluded at the end of January, with the constructive approaches of Turkey and the EU Commission."
The statement said, "our position on the Readmission Agreement has been clearly and repeatedly conveyed to our EU counterparts. As expressed in our Ministry's press release of December 14, 2010, the conclusion and initialing of the Readmission Agreement should be carried out in parallel to the initiation of the visa dialogue process between Turkey and the EU Commission towards a visa free regime. This is a gradual process which should be started with visa liberalisation in its first phase and concluded with a visa free regime".
"The increasing number of decisions recently taken by the courts in EU member states indeed prove that the existing visa procedures for our citizens has no legal validity," it said, adding, "since the beginning of the negotiations on the Readmission Agreement, we have, in line with our position outlined above, firmly conveyed to our counterparts on every occasion that we will not sign the Agreement unless our demand on this issue is not met."
The statement said, "the Conclusions of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council of February 24, 2011 on this issue is far from fulfilling our expectation. What we anticipate is that the EU Council mandates the EU Commission to start the negotiations with Turkey, in a way that will fully meet our expectation. As long as this expectation is not met, the Readmission Agreement will not be signed, initialled or implemented."
Separately, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu in his meeting with EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom, stated that Turkey was not a second class country and that its stance on the matter was very clear.
"We have fulfilled our obligations. However, our expectations were very clear while doing that. We asked EU to authorize the European Commission to start talks on visa-free travel in parallel to readmission agreement. Unfortunately, it is not a clear authorization. It refers to a 'visa dialogue' in an ambiguous expression. Dialogue is not a goal, it is a process. We want to see the goal to be achieved at the end of process," he said.
Davutoglu said Turkey has no more confidence in verbal commitments, indicating that Turkey would fulfill its promises as long as the commitments were fulfilled. "Our stance is clear. Turkey does no way accept a treatment different than subject to any other country," Davutoglu said.
EU interior ministers decided earlier to start "visa dialogue" with Turkey by approving the readmission agreement. EU officials said there could be visa exemptions for some groups, such as students and researchers.
In December 2009, Turkey asked EU to start visa exemption process for entry of Turkish nationals. In return, EU asked Turkey to finalize readmission agreement, after which Turkey will shoulder a heavy burden like extradition of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants who sneak into EU countries via its territories, launch of biometric passports and transition into integrated border management system.
Ankara expects the EU to allow Turkish citizens to travel to member states without visa in a gradual way. However, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, France and Greek Cypriot administration object it.
The EU, which has launched visa free travel with all candidate and potential candidate countries except Kosovo so far, is negotiating with its neighbors including Russia, Ukraine and Moldova to lift visa procedures.
EU's visa facilitation agreement with Georgia will take effect next month.
