Turkey visa move suggested by UK diplomat, papers show
- 3 hours ago
- EU Referendum
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A British diplomat suggested visa-free travel for some Turkish nationals should be extended to the UK, documents leaked to The Sunday Times show.
She suggested the move be considered for Turkish "special passport" holders, who are mainly civil servants.
The EU backed Turks getting visa-free travel inside Europe's Schengen area, as a deal for accepting more migrants.
But the UK home and foreign secretaries said any suggestion of changing visa arrangements were "completely untrue".
The leaked telegrams, sent on 5 May by Janet Douglas, the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Ankara relate to the EU's own visa deal, planned as recompense for Turkish help dealing with the Syrian migrant crisis.
The deal, to allow visa-free travel to Schengen countries, was offered in return for Turkey taking back migrants who crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece. The EU fears that, without it, Turkey will not control migration.
Pro-Brexit ex-cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said the documents showed Prime Minister David Cameron was involved with the European Commission in "an appalling deceit" to keep the prospect secret until after the EU referendum vote on 23 June.
He said: "They say nothing is happening about Turkey, but this shows they are already making official plans to allow visa free access for Turkish citizens.
"The attempt to hide this, and to delay key decisions until after the referendum, is cynical in the extreme."
'Open the floodgates'
In one leaked document, Ms Douglas said that when the EU deal is implemented "we will need to develop our own lines on the UK's stance to visa-free travel for Turks.
"One option would be to assess again the possibility of visa travel for Turkish special passport holders which would be a risk, but a significant and symbolic gesture to Turkey."
Special passports are mainly held by civil servants, their spouses and their unmarried children below the age of 25.
Within the reported deal there was no suggestion that "special passport holders" would have access for work.
Ms Douglas was also said to warn that failure to bring in the visa-free travel deal could prompt Turkey to "open the floodgates" and allow those fleeing Syria and elsewhere easier access to the EU.
It is not known how the Foreign Office responded to this correspondence from Ms Douglas.
'Appalling deceit'
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Theresa May - both of whom back the Remain campaign - said there had been a selective leak of diplomatic telegrams and that the story was "completely untrue".
They said border restrictions would not be lifted "regardless of what arrangements other member states... may make with Turkey".
In a joint statement they said: "The government's policy is, and will remain, to maintain current visa requirements for all Turkish nationals wishing to visit the UK, regardless of what arrangements other member states in the Schengen area may make with Turkey.
"Schengen visas do not give anyone the right to access the UK.
"The purpose of diplomatic telegrams is for our embassies around the world to feed back information on the position and views of foreign governments.
"They are reports from our diplomatic posts, not statements of British government policy."
Last month, Mr Cameron said Turkey joining the EU was not "remotely on the cards," saying the UK has a veto on any prospective member joining the bloc.
The EU agreed in March to offer Turkey the proposed visa-free access by July 1 but the country has yet to fulfil all of the conditions laid down by the European Commission, including changes to Ankara's anti-terrorism laws to meet EU concerns over human rights.
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