'Visa-free Europe' promises left behind
As the AKP's long-standing rhetoric of "European Union membership and visa-free travel" collapses, even members of parliament with diplomatic passports are being forced to obtain visas. İYİ Party Balıkesir MP Turhan Çömez had to obtain a visa from the US to attend a NATO meeting.
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Since 2002, the AKP government has initiated numerous reform processes with the goal of European Union membership and promised its citizens a "Visa-free Europe." However, the point reached after 23 years has revealed that these claims have become completely invalid. Now, not only ordinary citizens but also members of parliament holding diplomatic passports are unable to obtain visas.
The latest example of this situation is İYİ Party Balıkesir MP Dr. Turhan Çömez. Çömez, a member of the Turkish Group of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, was forced to obtain a US visa to attend a NATO meeting he was invited to, despite holding a diplomatic passport.
"IF A VISA IS NOT GRANTED, I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SPEAK"
Turhan Çömez shared the process he experienced with the public, stating, "I have the right to speak there (at the NATO meeting), but I am dependent on the US granting a visa to go."
THE UK AND CANADA ALSO IMPOSE VISAS
Çömez noted that not only the US, but also countries such as the UK and Canada have now imposed visa requirements on Turkish diplomatic passports.