Redundancy of connecting the visa exemption between Turkey and eu with the matter of legal/illegal immigration

Abstract

The matter of irregular immigration has been associated with the visa exemption that enables to travel Schengen area through the Turkey-EU readmission agreement. In fact, it has been determined in the several preliminary rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union that Turkish citizens have the right to visa-free travel in EU countries. Yet, there has not been established any required regulations by institutions that are authorized in EU law concerning the issue, thus, there has been implementation of additional restrictive measures such as visa procedures in particularly obtaining services and residence permit. In this regard, the EU has requested Turkey a readmission agreement which regulates the return of irregular immigrants to Turkey particularly in return for access of Turkish nationals to the Schengen passport-free zone. The current paper argues that it is not reasonable to link the visa exemption with the readmission agreement. It justifies that the visa exemption right has already emanated from the association agreement without the need for the readmission agreement.