Ready to obtain EU visas, says Turkish official

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President, said on 7 February that their country has met all 72 requirements that the European Union had laid down for their citizens to be eligible to travel visa-free to Schengen zone.

He also added that all relevant documents were submitted by Turkey to EU officials ahead of a summit involving the two in March.

Kalin was hoping EU visa-free travel would be launched in 2018 and added that a shot in the arm would be given to Turkish-EU relations.

A crucial component of the 2016 EU-Turkey deal, the aim of which was to block the inflow of thousands of migrants to Europe, was relaxing of visa rules. That had, however, had failed because Turkey did not fulfill some criteria, including modification of anti-terror laws.

The European Commission spokeswoman acknowledged that Turkish ambassador had handed over a paper regarding the remaining visa relaxation standards to Frans Timmermans, the EC Vice-President.

She was quoted by Associated Press as saying that the EC would go over the paper carefully, indicating that valuing the benchmarks needs legislative and procedural amendments.

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