Turkey: EU Lifts Visas, We Sign Readmission Agreement

Turkey will ink a migrant readmission agreement with the EU in exchange of the Union starting talks on removing its visas for Turkey's citizens, Egemen Bagis the country's chief negotiator on EU accession, has said.

Speaking at a gathering of EU officials and diplomats at the European Policy Centre think-tank in Brussels on Thursday, Bagis critisized the EU for calling on Ankara to curb illegal migration from Africa and Asia while giving it nothing on visas.

"We're willing to help the EU, but it's also a matter of taxation," he said, as cited by EUobserver, referring Turkish tax income used to fund the operations on stopping the illegal immigrants.

Bagis pointed out that 70 000 people were detained in 2010 trying to get into the Union through Turkey.

Signing readmission agreements is one of the conditions the EU imposes on countries wishing to gain visa-free access to its Schengen border-free zone - a stated objective of Turkey

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!