PRESS RELEASE
The existence of an agreement called “The European Agreement on Regulations governing the Movement of Persons between Member States of the Council of Europe” which was opened for signature by Council of Europe member states on 13 December 1957 has been revealed. The aim of the Agreement is to enable the nationals of States Parties to enter or leave the territory of another Party by all frontiers on presentation of one of the documents listed in the appendix to the Agreement. The facilities accorded are only available for visits of not more than three months’ duration.
However, this free movement of persons may be restricted by each State Party under certain circumstances. For example, The Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands), France, and Germany applied this restrictions effectively against Turkey during the early 1980s. This practice is still being maintained with a few exceptions.
Spain and Italy are among those countries who have signed the Agreement. However, these two countries have never issued any official objection against the free entrance or leave of Turkish nationals. Spain and Italy have not officially informed the related authorities that they imposed restrictions for Turkish nationals. The same situation is also valid for Greece. Therefore, Turkish nationals are free to enter these three countries without any visa requirement. According to the Article 307 of the European Community Agreement, the European Community Law has the superiority even if any conflict arises in the implementation of the Schengen Agreements. Requiring visas from Turkish nationals in these countries means the violation of the Agreement signed in 1957.
The lack of required domestic and international publicity by the Turkish diplomacy about the rights and responsibilities of Turkish nationals underlined in the Agreement is a puzzling situation.
Read more in Turkish : https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/2009/05/28/aciklayici-bilgiler-vizesiz-avrupa/
Leave a Reply