For the past couple of years, Turkey has been petitioning the European Union to allow its citizens to enter the bloc’s Schengen zone without a visa. The EU responded to the call by outlining 72 conditions that needed to be met.

 These requirements were listed in an EU framework titled the “Roadmap Towards a Visa Free Regime with Turkey”. The roadmap was first published in December 2013. It identifies the areas where Turkey must meet certain technical, as well as legal and political criteria.

The requirements listed in the Roadmap are organized into five thematic groups. These include document security, migration management, public order and security, fundamental rights, and the readmission of irregular migrants. Each of the blocks contains several requirements to be fulfilled by the Turkish government.

Once endorsed, Turkish citizens will be able to travel for 90 days without a visa to all European Union member countries - except for Britain and Ireland, which have provisions for opting out of such policies - and four members of the Schengen visa-free travel areas, which are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.