EU looks forward to implementing deal with Turkey with Yıldırım gov’t
BRUSSELS
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Top European Union officials have extended congratulations to Turkey’s new prime minister, Binali Yıldırm, while voicing hope that it will be able to implement a visa deal with the new government to grant Turkish nationals visa-free access to the Schengen zone.“Mr. Binali Yıldırım was nominated as the new prime minister of Turkey today. We congratulate him on the nomination that comes at an important moment not only for Turkey, but also for the EU-Turkey relationship,” the high representative for foreign affairs/vice-president of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, and commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, Johannes Hahn, said in a joint statement released on May 22.
“We look forward to continuing to work together on common regional and international challenges and to further implement all aspects of our joint partnership, as agreed at the first EU-Turkey summit last November and in the EU-Turkey statement from March 18,” Mogherini and Hahn said.
Turkey sought EU visa-free status in return for agreeing to the deal during ex-PM Ahmet Davutoğlu’s helm, under which irregular migrants who enter the EU in Greece are sent back to Turkey and Syrian refugees in Turkish camps are resettled in Europe.
