Turkey and the European Union on Monday signed agreements starting talks for a possible deal that would lift visa restrictions for Turkish citizens traveling to Europe and which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a ‘milestone’ in relations between his country and the 28-member bloc.<\/p>\n
Under the agreements signed in the Turkish capital Ankara, Turkey would in turn, agree to take back immigrants who illegally enter the EU from Turkish territory.<\/p>\n
The deals on visa-free travel and the re-admission of immigrants come weeks after the EU resumed membership negotiations with Turkey that began in 2005 but have been stalled for more than three years, mainly due to Turkey’s dispute with EU-member Cyprus and skepticism in some European nations on admitting a populous, largely Muslim country into the group.<\/p>\n
Turks have long complained about onerous visa demands from European nations that were designed to restrict Turkish citizens from flooding labor markets.<\/p>\n
Erdogan said Turkey was no longer an exporter of labor and that the country’s dynamic economy over the past 10 years meant that the country had now become a destination for jobseekers.<\/p>\n
The agreements foresee a deal on the lifting of visa restrictions within 3 \u00bd years, but Erdogan said he hoped it can be done much sooner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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