Turkish citizens were expecting the EU to lift the visa restriction for them by the end of June to allow free access to the Schengen zone without any restrictions, but are now disappointed
Surprise, surprise! European Parliament has put the visa deal on hold with its president, Martin Schulz, saying as long as Turkey does not act to change its anti-terrorism laws the EU assembly will not vote to allow lifting the visa requirement for Turkish citizens for the Schengen zone.
The EU has done it once again. They make promises and then try to find ways not to keep them. They create all kinds of alibis and in the end they get what they want and push you into a state of ambiguity.
Turks were expecting the EU to lift the visa restriction for them by the end of June to allow free access to the Schengen zone without any restrictions. At least that was a part of the deal signed between Ankara and the EU to halt the flood of Syrian migrants to European countries from Turkey.
Turkey was to stop the exodus of Syrian migrants to Europe via the Greek islands while the EU agreed to lift the visa restrictions for the Schengen zone, speed up Turkey's negotiations process for full membership and provide 3 billion euros in grants with an additional 3 billion euros later to Ankara to enhance the living conditions of the 3 million Syrians whom Turkey has taken in over the past four years. Turkey is to receive back the refugees who managed to flood the Greek islands and, in return, the EU is to accept an equal number of Syrian refugees from Turkey. It is supposed to be a package deal and Turkey mainly kept its part of the deal, halting the flow of the migrants to the Greek islands and receiving back the illegal migrants who from the Greek islands. The flow of migrants to the Greek islands today is about only 50 a day while this figure was in the thousands two months ago. A dramatic fall thanks to Turkey's resolve.
What did the EU do? Well they have not released any funds from the 3 billion euros they promised and said "provide us with 3 billion euros worth of projects and we'll send you the money." This is like a joke. Turkey has spent $10 billion up to now on the well-being of the Syrian refugees at 24 camps with relatively excellent facilities unmatched anywhere else in the world. Ankara says it will use the funds to build villages, better living conditions for the refugees, which it is already caring for in an excellent manner, and EU leaders witnessed this personally on their recent trip to southeastern Turkey.
The EU is now dragging its feet to lift the visa restriction, saying Ankara has to change the country's anti-terrorism law to fit European standards, which is absolute nonsense and just a tactic to stall Turkey. They say Turkey has met 67 of the criteria out of 72, leaving five unmet. One of these is that Turkey has to change its anti-terrorism law, which is impossible.
Turkey is under a serious terrorist assault from the PKK and DAESH. Our security forces have lost more than 400 soldiers and police in the fight and suicide bombers have hit Ankara and Istanbul. In a world where France can take excessive anti-terrorism measures that seriously limit freedoms, can anyone ask Turkey not to take extraordinary anti-terrorism measures, as it faces greater terrorist dangers?
The deal with the EU was supposed to be a package deal cooked up between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and now outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Yet it is a one-way deal where the EU got what it wanted and Turkey was given hollow promises, as we see today.
It is time we sat down with EU leaders in earnest and told them that we will not be taken for a ride. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has given signals that Turkey will not tolerate the insincerity displayed by the EU.
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