On 1 February the Greek-Turkish agreement on the granting of 7-day visas to Turkish citizens and their families on ten islands comes into force. Police and Coast Guard teams will be stationed at every port and customs office on the islands of Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros, Kos, Rhodes, Symi and Kastellorizo and will issue the visa. The visa will cost 60 euros and will be exempt from payment of the visa for the elderly, children and the disabled, according to the column 'Vimatodotis' in the well-known newspaper VIMA.
The European Commission has also given its consent on the condition that with this visa Turkish citizens will not be able to travel to Europe, even to mainland Greece.
The agreement explicitly stipulates that the Turks will try to limit, if not nullify, the migratory flows to our country. But the agreement does not stop at just promises. This time it provides for the Turkish side to check whether it is keeping to what has been agreed.
In the meantime, applications are pouring in to the Ministry of Migration Policy for the inclusion of other islands or other regions in this agreement. For example, requests for Patmos, the Evros region, Thassos, etc. to be included in the agreement. And all this at a time when on 24 January 2024 Greece (through the Minister of Migration Policy Dimitris Kairidis) takes over the presidency of the European Migration Centre. He will receive it from Turkey and from his counterpart Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
