On the contrary, traveling to Europe for any purpose for a Turkish citizen usually turns into a nightmare or leads to serious stress due to procedures set forth to acquire a Schengen visa that all EU countries except Britain require. Turkish citizens must sometimes deal with bad behavior exhibited by visa officials at some embassies in Ankara during the process of their application. I know of many such incidents but let me only share with you the latest one. Last year, a Turkish couple decided to travel to Spain, a place they had longed to visit, and made reservations at a hotel while buying their ticket. They applied for a visa at the Spanish Embassy in Ankara in a timely manner, but in the end they were given neither the visa nor good treatment. The couple called me several months ago to tell me of their deep disappointment. If the Spanish Embassy is interested in talking to this couple, it can get a hold of me and I can give it their contact details.
Ironically, the Turkey-EU Customs Union agreement stipulates the free movement of goods between the two, but not the free movement of Turkish citizens within the EU countries.
Nevertheless, several legal initiatives have been made by various Turkish entities with the related organs of the EU seeking the relaxation or complete abolishment of visa requirements for Turks.
Recently, the law firm of Dr. Selim Sarıibrahimoğlu, a prestigious Ankara-based lawyer, filed a legal request with the European Parliament seeking the easing or end of visa requirements for Turks.
Sarıibrahimoğlu says his law firm submitted its assessment of the matter to the EU Commission in January 2011. Sarıibrahimoğlu's law firm then took the matter to the European Parliament, where the office's legal arguments are currently being examined.
The law office based its argument on the founding principles of EU-Turkey relations.
Sarıibrahimoğlu says the visa problem stems from the fact that Turkey, as a result of the Schengen Agreement of 2001, was placed in Annex I (countries subject to a visa application) instead of Annex II. The Turkish placement among countries whose citizens are required to obtain visas runs contrary to the provisions of the Ankara Treaty (the 1963 Association Agreement) which became an integral part of the 1957 Treaty of Rome which founded the European Economic Community (EEC), argues Sarıibrahimoğlu.
“Because visa implementations under the Schengen agreement infringe on Turkey's rights, we applied to the European Parliament seeking the abolition of the implementation by using our ‘right to petition.' The European Parliament's Petition Committee notified us in a letter dated Nov. 4, 2011 that the law firm's application has been accepted and that the legal process has begun,” he says.
If Sarıibrahimoğlu's law firm wins the case, Turkish citizens will be able to travel to the EU for three months without visas. Such a decision, among other things, will at least relieve Turks from coming under serious psychological pressure that they encounter while applying for a visa.
