Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 11
By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend:
Turkey is very unlikely to receive visa-free access to the EU and the reason is quite simple – politics, Theodore Karasik, senior advisor to Gulf State Analytics, told Trend.
While Ankara has adhered to EU rules and regulations to gain visa-free access to Europe, Turkey’s multiple internal problems complicate this process, according to him.
Karasik said the visa-free access to Europe is under review, however, adding Turkey is unlikely to get the access because it is too dangerous, as viewed from Europe.
Earlier, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has said that the EU can abolish visas for Turkish citizens from Oct. 1, 2016 but only if Ankara fulfills all necessary conditions, in particular, changes its anti-terrorism legislation. Turkey has not fulfilled seven of the 72 conditions for lifting the visa regime with EU countries.
Ankara, in turn, has already abolished visas for citizens of all EU countries. However, the rules of the visa-free regime will come into force only after EU abolishes visas for Turkish citizens.