| Lütfü KÜÇÜK | |
| Chairman of the Board of TUGIAD |
|
Europe without visa |
Peskeloglu – 1983, Demirel – 1987, Savaş – 2000, Abatay/fiahin – 2003, Tüm/Darı – 2007 and finally Mehmet Soysal 19 fiubat 2009. These are the court cases that foresee the cancellation of unfair visa applied to Turkish citizens since 1980, based on the provision of “Free Circulation of Service" and that of “Existing right may not be worsened” mentioned in the "Additional Protocol" that became effective in 1973 with the Ankara Agreement, confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Communities.
Court cases evidencing our struggle of “Our Rights Acquired before EU, Europe without Visa” lead by TUGIAD for more than six years.
TUGIAD has been giving the same message for the last six years; Member countries of EU don’t have the right to establish new rules and legal regulations that may worsen the existing rights of Turkish citizens for their travels for service providing and taking purposes in “Free Circulation of Service” areas and in member countries. Turkish citizens should take appropriate legal actions to ensure the application of their violated rights.
Free circulation of service within EU is not what Turkish citizens demand, but already acquired as a right.
We had started an intensive work to have this legal mistake corrected by EU countries and we voiced our position once more in our press meeting held in the headquarter of our association on February 17th, 2009, 2 days before the conclusion of Mehmet Soysal case, where we had also the opportunity to introduce our book titled “REFLECTIONS OF E(E)C / EU PARTNERSHIP LAW TO TURKEY AND SERVICE INDUSTRY” which was also offered to you with our review ELEGANS.
Within this framework of these efforts, we visited on March 31st, Tuesday Günther Verheugen, the Deputy-Chairman of EU Commission. Our visit was very helpful because we found the opportunity to inform Mr. Verheugen at firsthand about “Europe without Visa” and to submit our opinion that EU Commission should immediately take a position and our request to call relevant units of member countries to the duty of making appropriate arrangements.
Mr. Verheugen indicated that he would personally submit the issue to the Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Barosso.
Our goal and ongoing efforts can be summarized as, at first, correctly informing and raising the awareness of existing National Associations in Turkey about the issue, visiting the embassies of EU member countries in Turkey and establishing an agenda, intensifying lobbying activities before government representatives and decision-makers ad consequently molding public opinion.
Within this framework, we have sent a letter to the Embassies of every EU member countries in Ankara with our request to take the necessary action upon the decision dated February 19th of the Court of Justice, enclosing also the English text of the decision. For the coming days, we plan to organize a “work meeting” with our stakeholders and with the representatives of interested parties and to identify new short and medium term steps to be taken after February 19th, both within the country and abroad.
We believe that Turkey, which takes firm steps toward becoming a member of EU, will succeed in this rightful struggle against these discriminating outdated and legally unwarranted practices like visa processes and more and more Turkish citizens will go to courts to protect their acquired legal rights. We are confident that we will be able to manage this critical process together and efficiently, taking into consideration that other NGOs have similar reactions against visa practices.
TUGIAD has been taking site in this struggle for six years and holding the same position.
It is taking side with and protects Turkish citizens and the International Law.
On this occasion, I would like to thank to all members of TUGIAD who have taken office and responsibility in our Europe without Visa efforts, to the University of Ankara, to our valuable teacher Prof. Dr. Harun Gümrükçü and to USIDER (International Association for Support and Development of Civil Society) which supports our “Work Group for Europe without Visa”.
