In an attempt to terminate the years-long strained ties with Türkiye, the Greek authorities are on their way to establishing a one-year visa-on-arrival program for Turkish travellers.
Following a meeting between the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, local media in both countries have reported on Greece’s plans to introduce an automatic visa system to enable Turkish nationals to visit ten of its islands under facilitated visa rules.
In a joint press conference after the meeting, PM Mitsotakis also said that his government had already received the approval of the EU Commission for introducing such a scheme, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Greece requested and secured EU approval to activate the possibility for Turks and their families to visit all year round ten of our islands that either have refugee structures or have a ferry connection with Türkiye.
Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Earlier, Greece’s Minister of Immigration, Dimitris Kairides, had asserted that the measure would bring Greeks and Turks closer to each other.
The visa will be granted on-spot and will be valid for a maximum period of seven days, one entry. The islands that will be included in this new scheme are as follows:
- Lemnos
- Lesvos
- Chios
- Samos
- Leros
- Kalymnos
- Kos
- Rhodes
- Symi
- Kastelorizo
Throughout the press conference PM Mitsotakis also expressed his support for Türkiye’s request to gain visa-free access to the Schengen Area.
Regarding Greece’s constant support for Turkey’s European accession process, our country supports the facilitation of visas, always within the framework of the European acquis, so that Turkey’s new generation, scientists, businessmen, students can develop closer relations with Europe.Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
The meeting between the Prime Ministers is the fifth of a series of meetings between both countries. A declaration has also been signed on Friendship and Good Neighborly Relations which is focused on strengthening ties, continue working together for the benefit of both societies, and strengthen bilateral relations through existing institutional mechanisms, amongst others.
Currently, Turkish citizens need to apply for Schengen visas in order to visit Greece for tourism purposes, including the islands. According to Schengen Visa Statistics, in 2022, Turkish citizens filed the highest number of Schengen visas at the Schengen consulates in Türkiye, a total of 778,409.
164,829 applications were filed at the Greek consulate in the country, which makes Greece the second country with highest number of applications received by Turkish citizens, following Germany, which received 223,699 applications in the same year.
Source: Schengen Visa Info