By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL- On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister and Director for EU affairs Mehmet Kemal Bozay lauded a joint declaration on Turkiye-EU ties by the European Commission and European Union policy chief Josep Borrell. Bozay called it a major first step in restoring relations that had soured after an EU report that said Turkiye hadn’t met all criteria for EU accession. Turkish diplomatic sources revealed that Bozay said there were discussions at the bilateral and multilateral levels with the EU and EU member countries to facilitate and expedite visa applications businesspeople, academics, students, artists and media professionals. Bozay said that Erdogan wants to revitalize EU relations. He added 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. Bozay commented: “We expect technical negotations to start unconditionally, and we expect the commission to be authorized for this.”
Meanwhile, Bozay said that his team is aware of the Borrell report and said that implementation of recommendations in the report would be a major first step in Turkiye-EU relations. He also said that EU institutions should take swift actions on Turkiye’s EU aspirations and that expectations from the Turkish side were made clear to the EU side in ministerial-level meetings that included the Foreign Ministry, Trade Ministry and Industry and Technology Ministry. This would include technical teams and official discussions to modernize the customs union. To that end, on December 12, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke via phone with Oliver Varhelyi, the European commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement. Fidan echoed Bozay when he expressed that Turkiye expected concrete steps in the areas of customs union, increased cooperation in the investment area and providing visa facilitation. Turkiye began a “visa liberalization dialogue” with the EU in December 2013 with officials indicating that 66 of the 72 criteria were already met . A major goal 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, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Norway. Turkiye has been an official candidate to join the EU for 24 years and accession talks were postponed over a multitude of disagreements and political roadblocks. Despite this, Turkiye remains a key economic and defense partner for the 27-member EU bloc.
