News / Syria

Syria cancels visa exemption pact with Turkey

Thursday, 17 December 2015 3:47 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 17 December 2015 3:47 PM ]

Syrian refugees walk along the road that leads to the Akcakale border gate in Turkey’s Sanliurfa Province, as they wait to return to their home in the northern Syrian town of Tel Abyad on June 18, 2015. ©AFP

Syria has revoked a visa exemption agreement with Turkey, citing the “principle of reciprocity.”

In a statement released on Thursday, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the decision came in response to the Turkish government’s move on December 9, 2015 to unilaterally void the accord.

“In assertion of the national sovereignty and pursuant to the principle of reciprocity, the Syrian government has decided on its part to cancel the aforementioned agreement and consequently not to allow Turkish nationals to enter Syria without a visa as of the aforesaid date,” read the statement.

The abolition of the visa waiver deal by Damascus will take effect after 30 days, the statement added.

The Syrian ministry further held Ankara responsible for the consequences of the cancelation of the treaty for Syrian and Turkish citizens.

The agreement was signed between the two neighbor countries in October, 2009, one month after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s working visit to Turkey.

Since 2011, Syria has been gripped by a militancy it blames on some foreign governments. The conflict has claimed the lives of over 250,000 people, according to the estimates by the United Nations.

This is while Turkey has time and again been accused of being one of the main supporters of the militant groups operating in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri elements there and facilitates their safe passage into the violence-hit Middle Eastern country.

The Turkish government has also been accused of complicity in the smuggling of oil from territories held by the Takfiri Daesh terrorists who are wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

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