In his statement, Baglikaya said that the problems regarding Turkish citizens getting Schengen visas for touristic travel to EU member countries continue to increase.
Stating that freedom of travel is being tried to be restricted due to visa ban, Bağlıkaya emphasized that travel agencies that organize tours abroad also suffer a serious loss of business.
Stating that they found the statements made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding visa at the Service Honorary Certificate Presentation Ceremony held within the scope of the 79th General Assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) very valuable, Bağlıkaya said: “I believe that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also initiate a study in the coming days and will take positive steps to solve this problem with a new chain of talks.” said.
Serious effort is being made
Reminding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made serious efforts to solve the problem since last year and that the issue has been brought to the agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Bağlıkaya said that despite the recommendation taken by the AKMP, no steps were taken by the EU countries towards a solution.
Pointing out that the quota for visa applications has been reduced to one-fifth, Bağlıkaya said, “While 1,000 quotas were given for visa applications before, this number has been reduced to 200. Unfortunately, there is a systematic obstacle to visa applications. In addition to these obstacles, the rejection rates given to our citizens who have applied for a visa are also present. “While the rate of visa applications denied in 2022 was over 15 percent, this rate increased to around 50 percent in 2023. We do not find it appropriate to restrict travel to any country for tourism purposes anywhere in the world.” he said.
“Appointment deadlines are being postponed”
Firuz B. Bağlıkaya reminded that travel agencies have to make long-term plans and sales, especially in international tours, and that they make hotel and flight payments in this context, and said:
“Previously, appointment times taken 1 week or 10 days later, due to the narrowing of the quotas, are taking too far forward dates. Recently, due to the fact that normal visa appointments cannot be made or appointments are made very far, intermediary institutions direct our citizens and agencies to the VIP visa application. Normally, the visa application fee is 80 euros. Despite the fact that the visa application system, they demand numbers starting from 300 euros and going up to much higher levels through the “VIP application” system.
As TÜRSAB, we met with the consulates of France, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain, and shared the problems our agencies had with the Schengen visa, with the authorities of the relevant countries, and requested a solution. In addition, we communicated with the British and US consulates and conveyed our requests for facilitating the visa process. The entire industry expects this problem to be resolved immediately.”
Source: Dünya Gazetesi by www.dunya.com.
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