EU rules out visa-free travel for Turks in 2016

PanARMENIAN.Net - European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has said he did not see the European Union granting Turks visa-free travel this year - as agreed in a migration deal - due to Ankara's crackdown after a failed military coup, Reuters reports.

The EU sealed a controversial deal with Turkey in March intended to halt illegal migration flows to Europe in return for financial and political rewards for Ankara.

"The draft law (on ending visa requirements for Turks) is being debated in the European Parliament right now," Oettinger, commissioner for digital economy and society, told several regional German newspapers in an interview published on Tuesday, July 19.

"But I predict that we won't have regulation on visa-free travel before the end of the year," said Oettinger, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the key driving force behind the migration deal with Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan must address the EU's concerns regarding the principle of the rule of law, he said, adding: "And that's not what it's looking like at the moment."

Oettinger criticized Ankara's recent decision to lift lawmakers' immunity from prosecution, a constitutional change likely to remove a pro-Kurdish opposition party from parliament, Reuters says.

He also slammed the Turkish government for shutting down opposition newspapers and intimidating journalists critical of government policies.

"And it cannot be that judges the government does not like are being removed by the thousands. The independence of the judiciary is a tremendous asset," Oettinger said.