To EU ambassador: Save us from visa-phobia
by Recep Korkut*

Visa requirements, like immigration laws, have been employed by many as a weapon to protect the boundaries of the nation-state. A visa, which implies a battle to overcome barriers placed between the people inside and those outside, for citizens of many countries, corresponds to an incredible “paper barrier.” This is because countries use the visa as a “screen” that can keep out those who might wish to come in and take away their cultures and welfare, and this screening also takes on the duty of preventing colonialists who intentionally seek to inject their local cultures into a new stretch of land.

That is, what is at play concerning visas is the discontent with immigration. Severe cases of narrow-mindedness and paranoia about security, which can be found in many countries, are also major bricks in the Great Wall of Visa.

For Turkish society, a visa is a nightmare that haunts their plans for international travel and is a corpus of complicated and humiliating rules, accompanied by an ample dose of arbitrariness. It is also a hotbed of dramatic imbalances in treatment and of discrimination. It is even the case, one can safely argue, that due to these visa ordeals Turkish citizens have developed visa-phobia. And this is not specific to those whose visa applications have been rejected. There is a sizable group of Turks who, in addition to the humiliating treatment and illogical obstacles of the visa obtaining process, are treated as potential offenders even before entering the country they wish to visit and are even subjected to degrading visa experiences that amount to racism.

As the country has stepped up its efforts to become part of European Union, there has been an increase in the movement of people from Turkey to Europe. However, the EU’s current visa regime is like a wall that has been keeping back a great mass of Turks who apply for visas. This picture arouses a strong response in our people whenever visa exemption is brought to the agenda. When the issue of visa exemption was seriously brought to the agenda some one-and-a-half years ago, the EU stipulated three conditions for Turkey to get a visa exemption: the implementation of biometric passports, the reinforcement of integrated border management, and the signing of a readmission agreement for the return of immigrants who illegally entered EU countries. These three conditions were considerably more stringent than those stipulated for countries in the Balkans that were recently granted visa exemptions.

Turkey not only introduced biometric passports in just six months, but also took institutional steps to ensure cooperation with the EU with respect to integrated border management. Moreover, the readmission agreement is about to be signed. But, despite these developments, the EU has failed to attempt to establish dialogue at an institutional level to facilitate the easing of visa requirements -- let alone take a step toward it. For this reason, although it is capable of eliminating the final glitches concerning the readmission agreement -- which is expected to impose the heaviest burden and responsibility on Turkey, compared to the other two conditions -- Turkey is rightly keeping the signature stage pending.

At this point I believe the readmission predicament that gives the visa exemption issue a paradoxical aspect should be analyzed in depth. Indeed, Turkey has serious doubts that it will be granted a visa exemption even if it accepts the conditions set before it. In other words, things are not what they seem. Although immigrants should be recognized and acknowledged for their problems, they are instead used as a factor in bargaining. The human dimension must not be ignored.

As a person who has long been planning to go to the Netherlands, but who does not want to submit the visa application out of fear that it might be rejected, I say to the embassies of European countries in Turkey: You have a share in the visa ordeals Turkish citizens have to go through to travel to EU countries. By turning a blind eye to the troubles of those who cannot go abroad to bring back the dead body of a family member, or those who cannot continue their studies abroad, or those who cannot see their families for many years, or those who are humiliated at embassies, or those who are not issued visas just because of unfounded objections by embassy staff, who are plus royaliste que le roi, you are playing a role in causing the suffering that is taking place.

Visa exemptions are certainly a matter that can be settled by and among countries. But it is in your hands to rectify the treatment afforded to us during the visa process at the EU embassies. Stop being paranoid about security and stop treating everyone who wants to travel to the EU as a potential criminal and even a Trojan horse.