A Turkish Song About Visa Hurdles
Schengen passport stamp from Helsinki, departure by ferry. (Photo: krif/Wikipedia)
“Complicated” is a good word to describe Turkey’s relationship with the European Union.
Turkey formally applied for EU membership in 1987.
It was officially recognized as a candidate for full membership 12 years later, but today it remains embroiled in membership negotiations.
Meanwhile, Turkish citizens have to go through a long and bureaucratic process to travel to the EU. Rules make it tough for Turks to get a visa and many spend long hours in line, waiting.
One Turkish musician, Sarp Yeletaysi, decided to tackle the matter with humor and wrote a song about the visa hurdles. It’s called “Schengen Macht Frei.”
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.