Turkey’s attempts to gain visa-free travel in the EU for its citizens have suffered a setback as a brawl in the Turkish parliament has postponed much preparation work.
Fighting broke out between the ruling party and pro-Kurdish MPs on Wednesday which resulted in parliament being suspended until Monday.
The delay has put in jeopardy a key deadline Turkey must meet to pass laws required by the EU in order for it to consider waiving visa requirements for Turkish citizens.
The travel deal is part of the controversial agreement reached between the EU and Turkey on migration.
Despite the recent fracas, the EU has held firm. The commission’s Frans Timmermans said there would be no softening of the 72 conditions Turkey must meet to acquire travel without visas.
“We will not play around with those benchmarks; the onus is on Turkey. They say they can do it,” Timmermans told the European parliament.
He also said that recent curbs on media freedoms and human rights in Turkey did not bode well for renewed discussions on Turkey’s application to join the EU – another component of the migrant deal.
“If they want to come close to the European Union so badly, let them prove that they can,” he said. “The distance between us and Turkey is not decreasing, it is increasing, because of human rights, the media and what is happening in civil society.”
It is not surprising that some member states are anxious about the prospect of lifting visa restrictions on 75 million Turks, particularly at a time of unprecedented migrant flows.
An announcement on visas is expected on 4 May.
Previously, the EU has said that of the 72 requirements – which include civil liberties – Turkey full meets only about half.
Senior Turkish officials have insisted the country will meet “almost all” the conditions by next week’s deadline. The government says that lifting visa restrictions is a non-negotiable part of the migration deal.
It is up to the European commission to make a recommendation on the visa scheme, but the European parliament is not obliged to accept it. A number of MEPs are known to have strong reservations about Turkey’s recent human rights record.
Such a rejection could bring an end to the migration deal.
