Greece's Istanbul Consul General Says Visa Processing Running Without Problems

By Bosphorus NewsTürkiye Staff

Greece's Consul General in Istanbul, Konstantinos Koutras, said on Wednesday that visa processing at the consulate is running without disruption, pushing back against speculation about access difficulties for Turkish applicants.

Speaking to CNN Türk, Koutras said the Istanbul consulate is currently processing approximately 1,600 visas per day and plans to increase that figure to 2,000 by July. He added that around 70 percent of visas issued are long-term, multiple-entry documents.

Greece is the Schengen Area country that issues the most visas to Turkish nationals, Koutras said, describing the volume of travel between the two countries as evidence of the depth of bilateral ties. "This situation shows how close our two peoples are," he said. "It also reveals the potential that Greek-Turkish relations carry and the vision for the future."

He closed with a pointed message on people-to-people contact: "People travelling from both sides are the best ambassadors of Greek-Turkish friendship."

The remarks came on the same day the European Parliament adopted its annual Türkiye report, which called on Ankara to meet outstanding benchmarks for visa liberalisation with the Schengen Area. Koutras did not reference the Parliament resolution directly, but his comments reinforced the picture of a functioning bilateral visa channel at a moment of broader EU-Türkiye friction over the accession process.

Source: 17 June 2026; CNN Türk.