Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the visa facilitation scheme during a joint statement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on December 7.
Migration and Asylum Minister Dimitris Kairidis noted the success of the scheme.
It was undoubtedly a very good day for Turkish-Greek relations after a long time. And I think we can be much more optimistic today than we were before. Everything went very well. Better even than expected.
Kairidis pointed out that the meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan represented a huge opportunity that should not be missed when it came to further improving relations between the NATO allies.
“Now that elections are far away in both countries, 2027 for Greece and 2028 for Türkiye, there is time to make substantial progress. I think we owe it to our people and future generations.”
According to Kairidis, the visa facilitation scheme should be understood within the framework of the continuing benign mood in bilateral relations. He argued that the scheme had been implemented despite strong scepticism from some EU members, especially in Northern and Western Europe.
We eventually managed to convince the European Commission about the benefits of the scheme in bringing the Turks and Greeks together. This is truly a win-win solution for both countries.
Recalling that Turkey is the only EU candidate that does not enjoy visa-free access to the Schengen area, Kairidis declared that Greece systematically supports Turkey’s EU prospects and visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens.
The programme will allow Turkish citizens to visit 10 Greek islands, including Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, Rhodes, and Kastelorizo, for up to seven days throughout the year, thanks to a special visa issued by the Greek police upon arrival after checking the Schengen visa and Europol databases, instead of going through the time-consuming regular visa application process.
Kairidis stressed that if the pilot programme is successful, the arguments for wider visa facilitation for Turkish passport holders will be strong at the European Commission level.
“The last thing the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean need is a conflict between Greece and Türkiye, which are two very important countries. It is in the interest of everybody, not only Greeks and Turks but our neighborhood in general, to do our best to overcome difficulties.”
