AKEL on the liberalization of visa requirements for Turkish citizens

Statement by Stefanos Stefanou, AKEL Political Bureau member

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 5^th May 2016, Nicosia

Yesterday’s statement by the European Commission to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens has confirmed what the government evidently knew for some months. That is to say that Turkey, to implement the EU-Turkey readmission agreement and cooperate in the handling of the refugee crisis, demanded from the European Union not only the opening of accession chapters, but also the speeding up of the process for the abolition of the visa regime for its citizens.

In essence, if and provided this proposal is adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council, Turkish citizens can enter and stay in the EU (except the United Kingdom and Ireland) and in the countries that are associated with the Schengen agreement for 3 months every 6 months. Such exemptions are decided regularly by the EU, provided they constitute a means for deepening its relations with third countries. However, under no circumstances do they include the right to permanent residence or work. Nor do they also annul other preconditions for entry to Member States.

In anticipation of our official briefing from the Government on the handling that has been made over the last few months, but also concerning the stand it will adopt on the issue as a whole, we submit the following reflections:

1. Turkey cannot under any circumstances be treated differently than other third countries. The complete fulfillment of all of the preconditional criteria for lifting visa requirements represents an essential prerequisite before any decision is taken.
2. The European Union’s stand demonstrates once again how specific expediencies and interests affect the taking of decisions.
3. This latest development follows on from previous ones which confirm that the passage of time with the Cyprus problem unsolved does not ensure that the relation “EU-Turkey-Cyprus – Cyprus problem” remains necessarily a tool to exert pressure and influence on Turkey to cooperate for a solution of the Cyprus problem. Under certain circumstances, this relation is transformed into a tool for exerting pressure on the Republic of Cyprus. This is how the issue of unfreezing Turkey’s chapters with regards its accession course has also been transformed into on the pretext of its role in tackling the refugee crisis.

That being said, the key element in our view is not so much the movement of Turkish citizens for a limited time to Member States, but its potential impact on the efforts to solve the Cyprus problem and on the content of the solution itself. Therefore, we reiterate our position for the continuation of the efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, as well as for the adoption of the Christofias-Talat convergence which specifically restricts the permanent settlement of Turkish citizens according to the population ration of 4:1, in order to protect the demographic composition of our country.