Abolish EU visa requirements for Turks - Turkish foreign minister demands

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has questioned the European Union's lifting of visa requirements for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia while keeping similar requirements in place for Turkey, dpa reported.

Brussels on Saturday made the three EU aspirants part of the Schengen regime, which allows for visa free travel throughout the bloc.

Citizens of Turkey, which has been negotiating to become an EU member since 2005, will continue to need visa for travel to EU countries.

"It is unacceptable that certain Balkan countries that are in the starting phases of association and which have not begun negotiations have received Schengen privileges, and that Turkey, taking into consideration the level it has reached in EU negotiations, has not," Davutoglu said at a press conference on Saturday.

Davutoglu had previously also criticized EU plans for lifting visa restrictions on the three Balkan countries for leaving out the citizens of predominantly-Muslim Bosnia-Hercegovina and Albania.

A Turkish foreign ministry official said Ankara supports the EU's move to liberalizing visa requirements for the three Balkan states, but would like to see the same liberalization extended to Turks.

"The way it's being done by the EU is giving the wrong signals," the official said.