Syria and Turkey cancel visa requirements

Oct 13, 2009, 13:48 GMT

Aleppo - Ministers from Syria and Turkey on Tuesday signed an agreement to eliminate visa requirements between each others countries during a meeting in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

'This is a day for both nations to celebrate,' Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters following the meeting. 'It is a historic and strategic event that lies in the interest of both the Syrians and the Turks.'

Around 20 ministers from both sides - including foreign affairs, defence, the interior, economy, trade and health - attended the meeting.

As a symbolic gesture the Syrian and Turkish ministers will cross to Turkey Tuesday evening without visas where they will complete their meeting.

Davutoglu's visit is part of a marked warming in relations between Turkey and Syria, which almost went to war in the late 1990s, after Ankara accused Damascus of providing support to the banned separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey, Israel's strategic ally in the region, also helped mediate indirect talks last year between Syrian and Israeli officials. Meetings were halted following the Israel's war on Gaza in December 2008.

However as Turkey is inching towards Damascus, tension with Israel is mounting after Turkey sharply criticized Israel earlier this year for the three-week Gaza offensive that killed some 1,400 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

In January, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan walked out on Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

The latest tensions with Israel followed Ankara's decision to cancel an October 12-24 air force exercise in the city of Konya, in Turkey's central Anatolia region, in a move that was seen as a boycott of Israel's participation.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem could not hide his relief at the manoeuvres' cancellation.

'Syria is always worried about such military manoeuvres, and we are pleased that they were canceled because Israel is still attacking the Palestinians and the al-Aqsa Mosque, ' al-Moallem told reporters.