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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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EU aims to reach migrant deal with Turkey

Bloc offers to make it easier for Turkish citizens to travel

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BRUSSELS — The European Union pressed ahead Wednesday with efforts to persuade Turkey to stop asylum seekers from reaching Europe and take back thousands more by offering Turkish citizens the prospect of visa-free travel within the bloc.

Mindful of Turkey’s pivotal role in managing Europe’s refugee crisis, the European Commission said Ankara has met all but five of the 72 criteria needed to end visa requirements. It invited member states and EU lawmakers to endorse the move by June 30, even though some conditions remain to be fulfilled.

“There is still work to be done as a matter of urgency, but if Turkey sustains the progress made, they can meet the remaining benchmarks,” Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels.

Once endorsed, Turkish citizens would be able to travel for 90 days without a visa to all EU member countries — except for Britain and Ireland, which have provisions for opting out of such policies — and four members of the Schengen passport-free travel area: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu praised the move, describing it as “not just a turning point for visa-free travel, it is also a new page in relations with the European Union.”

The move is a central part of a package of incentives for Turkey — including up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in aid for Syrian refugees and fast-track EU membership talks — to better police its borders, particularly in the Aegean Sea, so migrants can no longer reach Greece. Tens of thousands of people have crossed the sea from Turkey to Greece and then moved northward through the Balkans.

That deal has raised legal and ethical questions, as European nations unable to agree among themselves about how to handle the refugee emergency chose instead to outsource it to Turkey, where almost 3 million refugees are staying, most of them people fleeing war in Syria.

The prospect of visa-free travel was welcomed by Turks already in Europe. At his bistro in Berlin, Turkish-born businessman Yusuf Atalay called it great news for families struggling to visit Germany — which has about 3 million people claiming Turkish roots — for weddings and other celebrations due to strict visa rules.

Turkey is demanding the visa waiver by June 30, and sees it as an important sign that Europeans are living up to their promises. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the entire agreement will collapse if the EU reneges on any pledge.

First, though, Ankara must fulfill the final criteria. That means aligning Turkey’s data protection laws with European standards, ensuring that its data protection authority is free from political influence, improving justice cooperation with all 28 EU member states, and changing its definition of what constitutes a terrorist and a terrorist act, which European officials consider too broad.

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