European Commission says no free travel visa for Turks in new progress report, unless all requirements are met

Seven points pending before free travel for Turks in EU

A European Commission progress report on Turkey regarding the country’s implementation of the requirements set by the EU for free visa travel showed it still failed to adopt seven points. As a result the Commission could not give the ‘green light’ for free visa travel to Turkish national until the Turkish government fully complied with its obligations stemming from the agreement with the EU on the refugee crisis. European Commissioner on Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos underlined that progress had been made by Turkey, but added that ‘Turkey must implement the criteria determined in the road map’. The pending points Turkey should fulfill are the same 7 out of the total 72, which include amending its national anti-terrorist law that is deemed extremely ‘broad’ by the EU and impinges on freedom of speech. Ankara has repeatedly declined to introduce any amendments on its anti-terrorist laws, threatening to scrap the refugee deal with the EU and send millions of refugees into Europe.