Türkiye’s deputy foreign minister and director for EU affairs, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, on Monday welcomed a joint declaration on Türkiye-EU ties by the European Commission and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borell as a significant first step in mending relations.
Bozay said discussions have taken place at both bilateral and multilateral levels with the EU and EU member countries to facilitate and expedite visa applications for groups such as businesspeople, academics, students, artists and media professionals, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
"This is highly likely to happen as some progress has already been made. For example, in some places, they have reduced the application and appointment processes from three to four weeks to two weeks," he said.
Schengen visa rejection rates for Turkish citizens were around 4% between 2014 and 2016, according to data from the European Commission, and after 2016, it started increasing every year and reached 17% in 2021, with a notable drop to 15.7% in 2022.
"We have taken note of the Borrell report. The call from our president to revitalize relations with the EU in Vilnius has been effective in the stage of the EU making an assessment regarding Türkiye, and this is reflected in the report," Bozay added.
Bozay further said that the implementation of the recommendations in the report would be a significant first step in Türkiye-EU relations.
He also indicated the expectation for all EU institutions to take rapid and concrete steps in this direction.
Bozay noted that expectations were conveyed to the EU side in meetings at the ministerial level, including the Foreign Ministry, Trade Ministry and Industry and Technology Ministry, both in terms of technical teams and official discussions regarding the modernization of the customs union.
"We expect technical negotiations to start unconditionally, and we expect the commission to be authorized for this," he said.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had a phone conversation on Dec. 12 with Oliver Varhelyi, the European commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, where the results of the EU General Affairs Council on expansion and the EU summit on Dec.14 and Dec. 15 were discussed.
Fidan reiterated that concrete steps from the EU were expected soon in areas such as updating the customs union, increasing cooperation in the investment field and providing visa facilitation.
Türkiye has been an official candidate to join the EU for 24 years, but accession talks have stalled in recent years over a number of disagreements and political roadblocks. Türkiye suggests it has fulfilled most of the criteria for membership. Though the accession process stalled, Türkiye has remained a key economic and defense partner for the 27-member bloc.
Türkiye launched a "visa liberalization dialogue" with the EU in December 2013. Officials say 66 of 72 criteria have been fulfilled so far in the visa liberalization road map and that efforts are underway to fulfill the remaining criteria and ensure their sustainability. The aim is to eliminate the requirement for Turkish citizens to obtain visas for short-term touristic, business or family-related visits (90-180 days) to all EU members except Ireland and the Schengen countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway.
Since the start of summer, Ankara and the bloc have been working to rekindle ties, which for many years operated not toward mutual trust and strategic goals but only out of necessity.
After the presidential and parliamentary elections concluded in May, Brussels shifted its rhetoric from "the importance of cooperation with Türkiye" to "continuing relations on a strategic and forward-looking basis."