Turkish citizens expect the end of visa requirements from EU

The EU’s executive commission will vote before this summer whether or not short-term leisure or business stay visas for Turkish citizens will be lifted

Visa-free travel could be granted for Turkish citizens by the end of June 2016, marking the next step of the visa liberalization policy.

“It is obvious that we have been engaged in a sincere effort to take steps on issues under our responsibility by making parliament work as fast as possible. I think this will be observed by sincere politicians in Europe. I hope no one will use this as an excuse against Turkey,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş commented.

The EU aims to approve a “conditional” visa-free access to the Schengen zone, if Turkey will meet the necessary regulations by the end of June.

“The commission will put forward a plan to include Turkey in the list of countries exempted from visas”; for now, “only 64 out of the 72 criteria are fulfilled”, the AFP agency quotes.

The Turkey visa plan needs to be approved by the EU member states and the European Parliament. Meanwhile, officials in Ankara pressure EU to respect the deal and believe that the new visa policy can be applied in exchange of Turkey taking back migrants from Greece, under the latest agreement signed March 18^th.