Turkey and Portugal have — pending ratification on both sides — agreed a partial deal on visa-free travel for their citizens travelling between the countries. The deal, which was reached during an official visit to Lisbon by Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu, only covers citizens with special passports and only allows 90 days travel in every six month period.
Despite granting visa free travel to Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro, calls from the Turkish government, calls from business leaders and even a ruling by the European Court of Justice stating that Turkish business people operating in the EU should be able to travel visa free to Europe under the Ankara Agreement additional protocol signed in 1973, the EU has refused to budge on a visa-free deal with Turkey.
The most likely reason for this is the fact that Turkey is still technically at war with two EU members. But there is also the possibility that religion is coming into it; despite being firmly secular and democratic, Turkey is still a Muslim country, it could be that the EU fears they would be making it easier for terrorists to enter the EU.
Visa free travel with the EU would be very beneficial to Turkish businesses hoping to expand EU exports/imports. It would also likely boost tourism and the property market. However, until Turkey and Cyprus can find some common ground (some say the latter are being more firm with Turkey because they think Turkey will eventually bow in order to get in with the EU) there is little hope of visa free deal, and especially little hope of EU accession.
Source: Ezinemark
Read more:
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives
