Politics
EU ambassador says ‘shameful’ to demand visas from Turks
Mandating visas from Turkish citizens is unacceptable and shameful, according to the head of the European Union delegation to Türkiye.
“Citizens of Colombia, which has a drug problem, or Georgia, which has troubled ties with the EU and even Venezuela, can travel to the EU without a visa,” said Ambassador Hans Ossowski in an interview with Turkish journalists in Brussels on Monday.
“In Türkiye, people wait for months, sometimes a year, to find a visa appointment,” he said.
“We must restart the visa liberalization process,” Ossowski said, adding, “We have made an honest offer to the Turkish government.”
Türkiye has been a candidate for EU membership for over two decades, but talks stalled in 2016 over what Ankara says is the bloc’s “insistence on politicizing the issue.”
Türkiye suggests it has fulfilled most of the criteria for membership. Though the accession process stalled, the country has remained a key economic and defense partner for the 27-member bloc.
“Türkiye has fulfilled 66 out of 74 criteria,” Ossowski echoed. “Let’s work on the remaining six criteria.”
The European Commission’s enlargement and Türkiye reports for 2024 marked Ankara’s progress in certain areas of its membership criteria and key developments in bilateral ties.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was invited to the Gymnich meeting after five years, earlier this year, which conveyed to Brussels Ankara’s determination on membership and capabilities for cooperation with the EU on foreign policy, security, and defense.
Turkish officials say EU membership is strategic for Türkiye, which expects the EU to lift restrictions, revive high-level dialogue, update the customs union and facilitate the visa process until full visa liberalization.
However, the rejection rates for Turkish applicants have steadily increased since 2014, when the average rejection rate for Türkiye was 4.4%. By 2021, the rejection rate reached 16.9% during the pandemic, higher than the global average of 13.4%. In 2022, the rejection rate for Turkish applicants was 15.7%, compared to 17.9% globally.
In 2023, the number of Turkish citizens applying for Schengen visas reached over 1 million, with more than 48,000 applications being rejected. In 2024, denials stood at 14.5%, indicating a limited but measurable improvement.
Ankara believes the rejections are due to a shortage of staff in European consulates and the rising political tensions toward immigrants in Western countries, particularly in light of growing concerns about migration issues in the EU.
Despite the challenges, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that the visa issue is part of a broader political and diplomatic situation between Türkiye and EU member states.
“This is not just an issue between Türkiye and the EU. It’s a broader trend seen globally, and we are investigating if this is a case of special treatment toward us or just part of the general policy toward all countries,” Fidan said last November.
The call for visa liberalization and customs union updates remains central to Türkiye’s foreign policy objectives. The government hopes that through continued diplomatic engagement, it will be able to secure better conditions for its citizens who wish to travel, study and work in Europe.
Despite the lack of recent progress on visa liberalization and customs union agreement, the EU and Türkiye have maintained their strategic partnership, particularly in trade, security and defense.
Türkiye’s customs union with the EU, which came into force in 1995, is the only agreement between the EU and a non-member country. However, it is currently limited to industrial goods and processed agricultural products.
The customs union has significantly boosted trade between the two sides, raising the bilateral trade volume from $30 billion in 1995 to nearly $200 billion in 2022. However, Türkiye has pushed for an updated agreement that includes services, agricultural goods and public procurement.
The Turkish government is also eager to improve its relations with the EU in light of the broader geopolitical challenges in the region.
Muharrem Ince, a former presidential candidate who once challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, returned Tuesday to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), ending a three-year political split and dissolving his breakaway Homeland Party (MP).
Ince announced his return during a meeting of the CHP’s parliamentary group, where party leader Özgür Özel welcomed him back, describing the move as a critical step toward opposition unity amid increasing political pressure from the ruling government.
“This party is under heavy attack,” Özel said. “I called on my comrade to return to his political home – and he did.”
Ince, 60, was the CHP’s nominee against Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential election, where he gained national prominence despite losing. He broke with the CHP in early 2021 after internal disputes and founded the MP that May, positioning it as an alternative to traditional opposition politics.
Speaking to lawmakers Tuesday, Ince said his return was prompted by Özel’s sincere outreach and the broader need for unity.
“I did not come with pride or regret,” Ince said. “Sometimes we leave out of frustration. Sometimes we search for hope elsewhere. Today, I return with a desire to heal the wounds of separation.”
Earlier in the day, Ince convened the MP’s executive board, which voted unanimously to dissolve the party. An extraordinary convention is expected in July to formalize the closure, party officials said.
Ince’s MP failed to gain significant traction in national elections, drawing just 0.17% of the vote in the 2024 local polls. Despite stepping away from the CHP, Ince occasionally expressed support for the party, particularly in response to legal actions against its members, including Imamoğlu’s March 2024 arrest on corruption charges, which Ince publicly condemned.
Ince’s return is widely seen as part of Özel’s strategy to consolidate the opposition ahead of future elections, as the CHP seeks to build on its historic gains in the 2024 municipal races – the first time in 47 years the party emerged as Türkiye’s leading political force.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday to attend a two-day NATO summit in The Hague, where leaders will address key strategic threats facing the Euro-Atlantic region.
Erdoğan landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and was greeted by Dutch officials, Türkiye’s Ambassador to NATO Basat Öztürk, and Turkish Ambassador to The Hague Selçuk Ünal. He then traveled to The Hague, where the summit is taking place.
The Turkish president is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump later Tuesday at a royal dinner hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima for heads of state and government and their spouses.
Accompanying Erdoğan are First Lady Emine Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief İbrahim Kalın, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, and Erdoğan’s top foreign policy and security adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç.
The royal dinner took place at the Royal Palace in The Hague, with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima welcoming the leaders and posing for official photos before the event began.
Erdoğan is expected to hold several bilateral meetings with world leaders during the summit, which concludes Wednesday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday will join fellow NATO leaders at a critical summit in The Hague as the Israel-Iran conflict looms over the meeting.
“Tomorrow I am traveling to The Hague to attend to NATO summit. We have mobilized all means to prevent irreparable pains,” he said Monday at an event in Ankara, referring to Israel’s attacks against Iran, which have killed more than 400 people in the past 11 days.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday dismissed suggestions that the war in the Middle East would deflect attention from the summit of the 32 NATO leaders starting on Tuesday.
He stressed that Tehran should not be allowed to have a nuclear bomb, as Israel and Iran exchanged fresh strikes.
“When it comes to NATO’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program, (the) allies have long agreed that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon,” said Rutte ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague.
Rutte also noted that Iran was “heavily involved” in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Iranian drones are killing innocent Ukrainians every day in cities, in communities without any respect for life,” said Rutte.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump claimed U.S. warplanes had used “bunker buster” bombs that had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Other officials said it was too soon to assess the true impact on Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat.
Iran has warned that the U.S. bombing would “pave the way for the extension of war in the region” and threatened “serious, unpredictable consequences.”
As the world awaited Iran’s response, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the bombing campaign Israel launched on June 13 “a big mistake.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said Türkiye will not allow terrorists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability following a suicide attack that killed 22 people at a church in Damascus.
“We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria … to be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations,” he said.
Erdoğan extended condolences to the families of those killed, the Syrian government and the people of Syria.
“I wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” he added.
Erdoğan also stressed that the attack was aimed at destabilizing the peace, security and coexistence in Syria and the broader region.
“In the face of this vile terrorist act targeting Syria’s peace, internal stability and culture of living together, we stand with the Syrian people and government,” he emphasized.
“Türkiye will continue to support the Syrian government’s fight against terrorism,” he said.
A suicide bomber from the Daesh terror group opened fire Sunday inside the church in the east of Damascus before blowing himself up, killing at least 20 people and injuring 52 others, said the Syrian Health Ministry.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondents saw first responders transporting people from the Orthodox church as security forces cordoned off the area.
The church itself was strewn with wood from fittings and pews, with fallen icons and pools of blood on the floor.
“A suicide attacker affiliated with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group entered the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa area… opened fire, then blew himself up with an explosive belt,” an Interior Ministry statement said.
It cast the attack as a bid to “undermine national coexistence and to destabilise the country”, which only began emerging from the post-civil war chaos after Assad’s ouster six months ago.
The international community condemned the attack, the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since December.
The blast sparked panic and fear in the church, which had been full of worshippers, including children and the elderly, eyewitnesses said. Families were still searching desperately for missing loved ones.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was the first suicide attack inside a church in Syria since war erupted in 2011. Other churches had been damaged or seen attacks in their vicinity during the conflict, but none had been so directly targeted.
The incident also comes just weeks after Syria’s Interior Ministry announced the uncovering of Daesh cells in rural Damascus on May 26. During the raid, authorities said they seized light- and medium-sized weapons.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria’s security services have continued to pursue individuals accused of involvement in crimes, human rights violations and terrorism-related activities.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said that specialized teams had begun investigating the church attack.
“These terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace,” Khattab said, according to a statement.
In an interview earlier this month, Khattab said that Daesh had shifted “to studied attacks on strategic targets” and had attempted “to carry out attacks against the Christian and Shiite community” that the authorities had thwarted.
Authorities said they had arrested members of a Daesh cell near Damascus, accusing them of preparing attacks.
Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of the civil war, declaring a cross-border “caliphate” in 2014 before being territorially defeated in 2019.
Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in January.
Ankara, which has cordial ties with the new government, has repeatedly offered Damascus its operational and military to fight Daesh and other terrorist threats.
Devlet Bahçeli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and ally to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has slammed the United States as the “architect of atrocity” after the U.S. inserted itself into Israel’s war by attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.
“The United States is the bully and architect of atrocity that tramples over global conscience, stokes calamity, silently watches genocide unfold and threatens the Muslim world with weapons every time,” Bahçeli said in a statement released on Monday.
He accused U.S. President Donald Trump, who campaigned with the promise of ending wars, of being “contradictory and politically inconsistent, as well as fraudulent and insincere.”
“It’s the American people who can make the fairest and righteous intervention against this unreliable, faulty political attitude,” Bahçeli said.
“Israeli Prime Minister’s (Benjamin Netanyahu) statement that they launched an attack with the aim of ‘ending Iran’s nuclear appetite’ is nothing more than the mental eclipse of this era’s genocidal leader and the cunningness of producing a justification to defend the wrong while floundering in contradiction,” he added.
Iran’s neighbor, Türkiye, has condemned unprecedented U.S. strikes on Iranian soil, warning against the risk of escalating the conflict and destabilizing the entire Middle East. It also called on all parties involved to “act responsibly, mutually cease attacks immediately and avoid steps that could lead to further loss of life and destruction.”
It said only diplomatic negotiations could resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and urged the international community to support efforts for a diplomatic solution.
Although it is not party to the dispute between Iran and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program, nor to the Iranian-Israeli conflict that continues after U.S. strikes, Türkiye has a lot at stake as a regional power and a neighbor of Iran. Unlike its allies in the West, it has defended Iran’s right to self-defense and slammed Israel’s policy of expansionism that now has its sights on Iran.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly warned that Israel’s next target may be Türkiye if its regional aggression is not stopped. Indeed, Israel views Türkiye as an opponent and occasionally issues veiled threats to Turkish leadership for its unwavering support to Palestinians suffering under the Israeli attacks since 2023.
Türkiye also maintains close ties with its NATO ally, the United States.
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said in a social media post on Sunday that worst-case scenarios can be triggered if conflicts spread across the region. “The danger of expansion of conflicts in our region emerged after U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he warned.
Türkiye is making intense efforts to prevent attacks by Israel or its supporters against Iran from turning into a “greater disaster,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday.
Speaking at an event marking the anniversary of the foundation of the Memur-Sen civil servants trade union in Ankara, Erdoğan blasted Israel’s war against Iran, now in its 11th day.
“Türkiye never condones attacks against Iran’s sovereignty or security of the region, no matter who they come from and we clearly express our reaction,” Erdoğan said.
The U.S. military bombed three Iranian nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan on Sunday, amid rising concerns over an Iranian military response to the strikes.
The U.S. attacks were the latest escalation in a U.S.-backed Israeli military assault on Iran since June 13.
In a meeting with Iran’s top diplomat in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdoğan called for technical and leadership-level talks between Iran and the United States to resolve the tensions.
The U.S. attack has stoked concerns for a wider regional conflict and drawn international outcry.
Erdoğan told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that Türkiye was ready to take on the role of facilitator.
He said the region cannot tolerate another war and said Israel must be “stopped immediately.”
Since the start of the Israeli-Iranian conflict, Erdoğan has been scrambling to end the hostilities. He has held a flurry of phone calls with leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, offering to act as a facilitator for the resumption of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel on Monday said the Israeli army launched a new wave of airstrikes on targets in Tehran, including a prison in the city’s northwest region. The Times of Israel news outlet said that the prison was targeted to facilitate the escape of prisoners.
The new attacks came shortly after Iran fired a salvo of missiles into central and northern Israel on Monday as the conflict continued to widen between the two regional arch-foes.
Israel and Iran have been engaged in aerial combat since June 13, when Tel Aviv launched a surprise attack on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.
Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.
Meanwhile, in Iran, at least 430 people have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to the Iranian Health Ministry.
Tension with Israel
Erdoğan on Monday also assured his government was taking very necessary measures to keep 86 million Turks safe.
Last week, he announced Türkiye was planning to step up its production of medium- and long-range missiles.
Türkiye has tense relations with Israel, but analysts or officials don’t see an immediate threat of the conflict spreading into NATO-member Türkiye.
Türkiye has strongly criticized Israel’s actions, saying Iran has the legitimate right to defend itself against Israel’s attacks, which came as nuclear negotiations were ongoing.
Once close to rapprochement, Türkiye and Israel have grown deeply estranged, especially after the start of the war in Gaza in 2023, with Erdoğan becoming one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fiercest critics.
Relations further deteriorated following the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime, as Israel grew increasingly hostile to Turkish influence in Syria.
Earlier this year, Türkiye and Israel, however, established a “de-escalation mechanism” aimed at preventing conflict between their troops in Syria.
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