Can Baydarol
First of all, we are deeply saddened by the loss of Altan (Öymen), who was not only a beloved politician, journalist, and writer to CHP members but also to all sensible citizens of the Republic of Turkey. May he rest in peace. I wish strength to his loved ones, especially our family friend Aslı Öymen.
As for the issues facing Turkey…
First of all, it is worth revisiting the Schengen visa issue, which is of great concern to all our citizens. Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Türkiye in Ankara, Ambassador Thomas Ossowski, announced the good news: ‘We are introducing a “cascade” (gradual improvement) rule to resolve the visa issues faced by Turkish citizens!’ We were all very pleased to hear this. So what does this rule entail?
First of all, you need to have a visa, even if it is a short-term one. This means that you need to overcome the obstacle of getting an appointment from an officially recognised visa office. Once you have overcome this obstacle and submitted your application, you should not be rejected and must obtain a visa valid for one week, 10 days, or a maximum of one month to start with.
Let’s say you obtain a one-month visa. By repeating the same appointment procedures and ensuring proper compliance (you entered the Schengen area from the country where you obtained the visa and departed Schengen territory within the specified timeframe), you are eligible to apply for a six-month visa on your second application.
Under the same conditions, you can apply for a 1-year, 3-year, and finally a 5-year visa for subsequent periods. Meanwhile, your passport must be valid for the duration of the visa you are applying for, meaning it must not expire before the visa’s expiration date.
Of course, these explanations are insufficient to resolve two major issues.
Firstly, the appointment issue we emphasised above. Let’s say you are going to Spain, but you got a visa for France because the waiting queue there is shorter. If you fly directly to Spain, you lose your status as a good applicant. You have to start all over again. If your destination is Italy, you’re in trouble—the appointment is on hold, meaning it doesn’t exist. When asked about the appointment issue, Ossowski’s response was: “One day, everyone will have a five-year visa so that the appointment problem will disappear!” But when will that day come? It’s unclear, and given the current situation, it doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.
The second big question mark that remains unanswered concerns the visa rejection.
Let’s say you overcame all the obstacles to getting an appointment, gathered all the necessary documents for your application, and paid the required fee (approximately € 150). However, the consulate still denied your visa application. You lost your money, and your hopes are dashed.
When you ask, “Why did you refuse?” you may not receive an answer based on objective criteria. Finally, here’s what happened to a journalist friend of mine. A young colleague applied to go to France to report on a story and was denied. When he asked why, he was met with the response, “You’re too educated for Turkey; you’ll likely seek asylum in France!”—an apparent attempt at reading his intentions.
As you can see, there are not many changes on the EU front for now.
We understand that the Ambassador referred to the negotiations that were supposed to have been completed in 2016, allowing Turkish citizens to benefit from visa exemption. Turkey was required to meet 72 criteria for this exemption. Sixty-six of them have been met, but the negotiations have been suspended because the remaining six have not been met.
The two most essential criteria of the last six are the ‘anti-terrorism law.’ We currently do not know whether this criterion can be met, given that the definitions of terrorism and terrorist are constantly changing, and we still do not fully understand what the ‘peace process’ entails. If we comply with this criterion, what should we do next? At this point, the requirement to ‘align the protection of personal data with EU standards’ comes into play.
Let’s say we have met all the criteria. In the coming months, we will resume negotiations with the European Commission on the exemption issue. Will the EU say, ‘OK, Turkish citizens with Turkish passports can enter the Schengen area freely,’ or will it come up with an excuse based on the criteria and drag the process into a dead end?
Unfortunately, I am one of those who are pessimistic in this area. As long as the Turkish economy does not improve and Turkish citizenship continues to be granted to third-country nationals whose sole intention is to obtain a Turkish passport and seek asylum in the EU, the EU will not hesitate to make excuses.
The situation of students who were unable to obtain visas during this entire period and therefore could not benefit from their right to education, the prevention of businesspeople from participating in trade fairs in violation of the customs union, the inability of athletes to participate in competitions, etc.
Unfortunately, these questions will remain unanswered in the Ambassador’s statements.