Lawmaker and deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, Yasin Aktay, revealed that a number of local officials and organizations have called for the decision to impose visas on Syrians arriving in Turkey to be reviewed or cancelled.
Aktay said that the lawmakers had put internal pressure on the Turkish government to cancel the visa requirements for Syrians given that the policy has prevented hundreds of families from communicating, according to al-Arabiya news.
Aktay said, “Turkey welcomed and opened its doors to our Syrian brothers fleeing Assad’s barrel bombs and the bombardment of its warplanes and from the displacement by the Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,” considered a terrorist group by Turkey and NATO.
He added that Europe had requested Turkish assistance to end the refugee crisis, and had promised to play its role in resolving the issue, but had not lived up to its word and used visa-free travel for Turkish citizens wanting to enter the EU as a bartering chip.
Aktay, who heads the Turkish parliament delegation to the federation of international parliaments, accused Europe of pursuing a policy of deceiving Turkey, with the aim of keeping the crises out of their territory and attempting to bargain with the refugee file.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
