TURKEY DROPS VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR MORE COUNTRIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001841 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2014 TAGS: PREL CVIS CMGT PGOV PTER SY LY TU SUBJECT: TURKEY DROPS VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR MORE COUNTRIES Classified By: Acting POL Counselor Jeremiah Howard for reasons 1.4(b,d ) ¶1. SUMMARY: (C) MFA Head of Visa Section Kemal Demirciler recently gave us a consular perspective on the increasing number of Turkish bilateral visa waiver agreements. He said his department is not consulted before a visa waiver agreement is signed, and he expects no notification as to which countries will be next. He said visa waiver agreements appear to be on-the-spot-decisions by high-level GOT leaders during their official visits. These new visa waiver agreements affect both the MFA consular department, which is not consulted but must implement the decisions, and Turkish border crossing officials, who do not have the infrastructure to deal with the increase in visitors and additional screening responsibilities. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Demirciler said the recent increase in visa waiver agreements is causing frustration to both the MFA consular department and even more so to the border gate officials. On the MFA consular side, Demirciler said they are not consulted by Turkish political leaders on these decisions. Turkish ministers travel to a country, sign an agreement, and the consular section is left to work out the details of implementation. We asked if there is an overall plan for when and which countries would be chosen for visa waiver agreements. Demirciler replied he does not know why countries are chosen or which ones will be next: "They just go, and sign agreements." ¶3. (SBU) At the borders, Demirciler said the officials now complain that they do not have the infrastructure to deal with their ever-increasing burden as more and more countries are added to the visa waiver list. The officials must deal with both increasing traffic from the waiver countries, and the fact that now the burden of screening lies fully on them. Demirciler said that after the visa requirement was lifted with Syria, traffic more than doubled. Also, he said that with Syria, on certain dates such as religious holidays, travel is permitted with only ID cards as documentation. After the visa waiver was signed with Libya, he said planes between Libya and Turkey are now "full, with two flights a day." ¶4. (U) Ordinary passport-holders of the following countries are exempt from visa requirements for stays in Turkey varying from 30-90 days by country. "New" indicates an agreement that has been signed and implemented in the past six months. Full list and details can be found at: http://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-fo reigners.en.mfa Andorra Albania (new) Azerbaijan (in progress) Bosnia-Herzegovina Brazil Brunei Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador El Salvador Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Guatemala Honduras Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC Iceland Iran Israel Italy Japan Jordan (new) Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Libya (new) Liechtenstein Lithuania (new) Luxembourg Macedonia Malaysia Mongolia Montenegro ANKARA 00001841 002 OF 002 Morocco New Zealand Nicaragua Paraguay Singapore South Korea Sweden Switzerland Syria (new) Tajikistan (new) Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Turkmenistan Uruguay Uzbekistan Vatican Venezuela JEFFREY "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"