European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said during a visit to Ankara on Thursday 1 September that he was confident and optimistic that Turkey would soon be granted visa-free travel for its nationals. He assured Turkish European Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik that the EU would provide Ankara with all the support necessary for it to achieve the final outstanding benchmarks. Among the remaining problems are the Turkish anti-terrorist laws.
In what is being seen as an encouraging development in bilateral relations after the attempted coup of 15 July, Avramopoulos was expected also to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “It’s a good sign”, European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said on 1 September.
The Commission is due by mid-September to submit a report on the EU-Turkey agreement of 18 March which will include progress made on the visa liberalisation that was promised to Ankara. European Affairs Minister Çelik made it clear to the EU that, if Turkey did not get the visa-free regime, it would cease to apply the agreement on the readmission of migrants and asylum seekers, Reuters reports. In Turkey, Commissioner Avramopoulos was also expected to hold discussions on the retour of migrants who had illegally entered Greece, arrangements which form part of the 18 March agreement and which have operated since, the Commission says. The UNHCR believes that, following the failed coup in mid-July, some chapters of the agreement have de facto been suspended, including the section on readmissions.
The Commission challenges this view and argues that, while there have been few returns recently, this is because there has been no one to send back as the asylum procedures are still on-going. The recent return of eight Syrians was voluntary and cooperation with the Turkish authorities was good, it is claimed, even in the absence in Greece of Turkish liaison officers who left after the coup attempt. The Commission says that there has been constant contact with Ankara.
On Thursday 1 September, European Parliament President Martin Schulz was also in Turkey and he, too, was due to meet the Turkish president and foreign minister. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)