Thursday, 15 October 2009
Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers signed an agreement on Tuesday and ended visa restrictions for travel between the two countries.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem inked the accord at a ceremony at the border.
Under the agreement, Syrians will be able to travel to Turkey without visas, and vice versa, and they will be allowed to stay in the other country for a period of up to 90 days in every six months.
Turkish state ministers Hayati Yazici and Cevdet Yilmaz, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, Interior Minister Besir Atalay, Health Minister Recep Akdag, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu, as well as their Syrian counterparts attended the ceremony held after the first meeting of the Turkey-Syria High Level Strategic Cooperation Council held in Aleppo, Syria.
Ministers together lifted the barricades at the border and released white doves, the symbol of peace.
Ministers later proceeded to the Turkish province of Gaziantep for the second part of the meeting of the Turkey-Syria High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
