ANKARA
The Turkish minister responsible for affairs with the European Union has said Turkey waited for the action plan that would pave the way for visa-free travel of Turkish citizens to EU-member countries.
Turkish EU Minister & Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis, delivering a speech at a conference titled "Visa-free Europe" in Ankara, commented on EU's authorizing the European Commission to launch visa exemption talks with Turkey.
Describing such authorization as a historic development in Turkey-EU relations, Bagis said, "Our expectation for the upcoming term is the preparation of an action plan for visa exemption".
The minister said, once the country's expectations on the content of the action plan were met, the readmission agreement initialled by Turkey would be signed.
He also said Turkey would implement the readmission agreement as soon as the action plan was put into practice.
"We deserve a visa-free Europe," said Bagis, adding that Turkish citizens would acquire such right sooner or later.
Bagis also stated that EU's visa procedure against Turkey had no economic, legal, social or political grounds anymore.
EU authorized the European Commission to launch visa exemption talks with Turkey last Thursday, in a simultaneous move with Turkey's initialling a readmission agreement with the union.
The readmission agreement will allow expulsion of Turkish nationals who entered the EU territory illegally without any formality.
Turkey demands simultaneous implementation of visa exemption and the readmission agreement.
Syrian attack matter of international diplomacy
Turkey's EU minister has said the recent downing of a Turkish warplane by Syria was a matter of international diplomacy.
"The attack on our plane is not solely a conflict between Turkey and Syria, but it is a matter of international diplomacy," EU Minister & Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said Monday, responding to questions of reporters following a conference in capital Ankara.
Bagis said the issue had aspects that would concern platforms such as the European Union, NATO and the United Nations, adding that the Turkish foreign minister displayed intense efforts on the matter and all relevant institutions acted attentively.
"The Republic of Turkey is a great state and it knows what to do on every occasion. It has not yet said its final word on this issue," he said.
Commenting also on today's meeting of EU foreign ministers on Syria, Bagis said he hoped participants of the gathering would underscore that a regime, which brutally killed its own citizens, could not continue to exist.
A Turkish RF4 warplane was shot down by Syria in international airspace some 13 miles outside of Syria's flight zone on June 22.
The unarmed plane was on a training mission to test Turkey's own national radar system, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
Turkey has called for an urgent meeting in NATO under Article 4 of the founding treaty of the Alliance to discuss the incident on Tuesday.
