Fast-track visa for Turks visiting Greek islands is successful

This was evaluated according to Consul General of Greece to Istanbul Ambassador Konstantinos Koutras in a recent interview with Daily Sabah. Fast-track visa garnered the interest of over 110,000 people last year.

The agreement for automatic visas allowing Turks and their families to visit certain Greek islands without having to apply for full access to the European Union's passport-free travel zone was signed in December 2023, when Greece and Turkey agreed to turn a page after years of tensions and drafted a road map to usher in a new era of closer ties.

Earlier this week it was confirmed the visa will be extended by another year, to April 2026, and will include another two islands, Patmos and Samothrace, bringing the total number to 12.

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Koutras touched upon the topic and the developments in diplomatic, cultural and business ties with Türkiye.

He explained it is a facilitation program that requires approval from the European Commission and other member states, describing it as a "very successful" initiative.

"So for us, it was very important to have it approved and we have applied again to reimplement it also this year cause the results were almost 100% positive," he said in an exclusive interview recently, mentioning incidents were very rare.

Evaluating the exchange of visits, tourist flows and in general the momentum in ties, the consul general maintained that the "framework is going quite well," underscoring this is "the reason why we're trying to promote people-to-people contacts."

“Last year, we had more than 1.3 million Turks visiting Greece and more than 600,000 Greeks visiting Turkey,” Koutras said, explaining however, that in his view, when looking at the population size of both countries, the number of Greeks visiting Turkey appears to be higher.

Answering a question of how the business community sees the recent rapprochement in relations between Athens and Ankara, the consul general referred to the established contacts and an event being planned for later this year, while emphasizing it is a "developing process."