Turkey, EU negotiating visa issuance ease in return for immigrant deal

“Once we have a readmission agreement we will be very open to negotiating visa facilitation for [Turkish] journalists, academics, businesspeople and scientists to travel easily to the EU,” the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told a group of Turkish journalists who are on a trip organized by the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey.

It is estimated that every year almost 72,000 illegal immigrants go to Europe via Turkey, although Turkey apprehended approximately 65,000 illegal immigrants in 2008. The readmission agreement envisages sending immigrants back to their countries of origin via Turkey.

“This is certainly a critical issue,” said the EU official.

The EU and Turkey have long been at odds over the critical issue. The EU alleges that Turkey is not doing enough to tackle illegal immigration coming from the East, especially from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, claiming the country has failed to fulfill its promises to repatriate illegal immigrants who pass through Turkey and are later detained in EU member states.

Turkey needs the assistance of the EU to establish a reliable system and to ease worries of whether all detained immigrants will be sent back after the agreement is signed.

On the other hand, Turkish officials have repeatedly stated that the EU is not offering any substantive plan to share the financial costs.

But according to the same official a new round of discussions will be held on Dec. 4 in Ankara for signing the readmission agreement between Turkey and the EU.

The official stated that the EU as a whole, not individual member-states, is negotiating for the readmission agreement and that the EU is ready to share the burden.

“This is certainly a critical issue. The EU will grant support to Turkey to tackle the problem. We have expressed our readiness to look into all ways and means to help Turkey face this problem. Of course, we have budgetary limitations, but we are ready to help Turkey,” the EU official said.

The Turkish side complains that financial assistance from the EU for the repatriation of illegal immigrants heavily favors the Greek government.

Approximately 70 euros are provided to Turkey per person to offset the cost of readmission, hosting, processing and deporting to the country of origin. However, the EU gives 1,000 euros per person to the Greeks.

The discussion of illegal immigration has also strained Turkish-Greek relations, as Greece naturally is the first country entered by people who seek refuge after transiting Turkish territory. Turkey and Greece signed a readmission agreement in 2001 to manage the flow of people, but Athens claims the treaty is not working. Brussels siding with Greece on the issue recently received a harsh rebuke from Ankara.

Another point of contention between Ankara and the EU over illegal immigration is that Turkey is excluded from treaties signed by the EU with third countries. For example, the EU’s ongoing negotiations for a readmission treaty with Pakistan would impact Turkey, as most illegal immigrants from Pakistan choose to cross Turkey in their passage to the EU.

Some experts underline that once there is a readmission agreement between Turkey and the EU, the flow of illegal immigrants to Turkey will decline since there will be the possibility of being sent back to Turkey if they are not accepted in Europe.

According to the same top-ranking official there will be more advantages for Turkey if it signs the readmission agreement with the EU, the most important one being visa issuance facilitation for Turkish citizens.

“As soon as the readmission agreement is signed, we will offer many new opportunities in terms of visas for your compatriots wishing to travel to the EU,” he underlined.

The same source indicated that some member-states say they cannot consider any visa issuance facilitation with Turkey if there is no readmission agreement between the EU and Turkey.

“This issue will affect our bilateral relations,” the official said.