ANKARA: The European Union has eased rules for Turks to use its open-border Schengen area, the bloc’s ambassador to Ankara said on Friday, calling for the urgent revival of negotiations on visa-free travel for Turks.
For years, Turks have complained about the EU’s visa system. The EU has said the processes — managed by accredited visa agencies — have been slow due to the high number of applications and that it is discussing possible workarounds with Ankara.
Ambassador Thomas Hans Ossowski said the new rules would help address Turks’ complaints over long bureaucratic processes, but warned it was not enough to permanently solve the problems.
“It will be much easier and much faster for Turkish citizens,” Ossowski told reporters in Ankara, referring to the European Commission’s new decision, in effect since July 15, simplifying the path to multiple-entry visas for Turks.
Turks who previously used visas correctly will be eligible for a six-month visa as early as their second application, followed by one-year, three-year and five-year multiple-entry visas.
Turkiye has been an EU membership candidate since 1999 but its accession process has been frozen for years over issues ranging from human rights to democratic backsliding. There have recently been signs of increased engagement and economic cooperation.
Ossowski said the EU had for more than a decade offered Turkiye the prospect of visa-free travel and stressed the need to return to the liberalization process.
“Every other candidate country has visa-free travel except Turkiye,” he said. “It is urgent to re-engage in this process of visa-free travel in the Schengen space and the EU,” he added.
The Commission is ready to restart formal negotiations after the summer and work with Ankara on fulfilling the six remaining benchmarks required by the visa liberalization roadmap, he said.
“We are ready, the Commission is ready to work closely with Turkish authorities,” he said.
EU eases Schengen visa rules for Turks; envoy urges further moves
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EU eases Schengen visa rules for Turks; envoy urges further moves
- Ambassador Thomas Hans Ossowski said the new rules would help address Turks’ complaints over long bureaucratic processes, but warned it was not enough to permanently solve the problems
Heavy shelling, explosions spark fear along Pakistan-Afghanistan border
- Residents fear for their safety amid border clashes
- 1,500 Afghan families displaced due to heavy shelling and explosions
- Pakistan denies targeting civilians, says its strikes focus on militants
LAL PUR, Afghanistan/PESHAWAR, Pakistan: People living along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan said they were considering fleeing their homes because of heavy shelling and explosions as fighting between troops from both sides entered a seventh day on Wednesday.
The South Asian allies-turned-foes have engaged in their worst fighting in years following Pakistani airstrikes on major Afghan cities last week, increasing volatility in a region also on edge over US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Taliban government, are aimed at ending Afghan support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
SHELLING STARTS AS VILLAGERS ARE BREAKING RAMADAN FAST
Residents of towns and villages in Pakistan’s northwest said fighting between border forces starts in the evenings, placing their homes in the line of fire, often at sunset when families are breaking their fast in the holy month of Ramadan.
“There is complete silence in the day, but the moment we sit for iftar dinner, the two sides start shelling,” Farid Khan Shinwari from Landi Kotal, a town near the Torkham border crossing, told Reuters.
“We open our fast in extremely difficult situations, as you never know when a shell can hit your house.”
Residents in the town and nearby villages said there had been heavy shelling and some explosions heard in the past few days, prompting many to flee their homes.
On the other side of the border, Afghans shared similar stories of skirmishes and families fleeing their homes.
Hundreds had been displaced to an open dirt field under makeshift tents, while others had no shelter at all. Officials say around 1,500 families have fled their homes.
Fighting along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) border has ebbed and flowed over the week-long conflict, with both sides saying they have inflicted heavy losses on the other country and gained ground in the fighting.
Reuters has been unable to verify these accounts.
TURKEY HAS OFFERED TO MEDIATE
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Ankara would help reinstate a ceasefire, the Turkish Presidency said on Tuesday, as other countries that had offered to mediate have since been hit by the conflict in the Gulf.
On Wednesday, both countries reported exchanges of heavy fire, with Afghanistan’s defense ministry saying Taliban forces shot down a Pakistani drone and captured seven border posts.
A spokesperson for the ministry said 110 civilians, including 65 women and children, had been killed since the fighting began and another 123 were wounded. The United Nations mission for Afghanistan has listed 42 deaths so far.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar disputed both figures, saying: “Pakistan exercises great care in only targeting terrorists and support infrastructure. No civilian structures have been targeted.”
On Saturday, Pakistan struck “ammunition and critical equipment” at the Bagram air base north of Kabul, Tarar said, a key American command center through the 20-year Afghan war.
