By Yusuf Hatip
BRUSSELS (AA) – An EU official on Wednesday said that Turkey is close to completing all criteria for visa-free travel of citizens.
Speaking to Turkish journalists on the issue in Brussels, Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, said that Turkey is “determined ” to complete 72 criteria for visa-free travel.
Avramopoulos said that only seven criteria remain unfinished, stressing that Turkey will continue to remain a strategic partner of the EU.
Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal in March 2016, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of more than 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
The deal also allowed for the acceleration of Turkey’s EU membership bid and visa-free travel for Turkish nationals within the Schengen area.
