The FINANCIAL — In a bold gesture ahead of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s official visit to the Serbian capital of Belgrade, the Serbian government has abolished visas for Turkish citizens, Today's Zaman informs.
According to a statement made to the Tanjug news agency, the Serbian government discussed the issue on Friday and agreed that the requirement for visas for Turkish visitors should be eliminated, B92, a Belgrade-based broadcaster, reported on July 11.
Novi Pazar Mayor Meho Mahmutovic stated earlier on Saturday that the government had approved the initiative of Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic for the abolishment of visas between Serbia and Turkey.
“The visa regime slowed down communication between the two countries’ citizens, particularly businesspeople,” Mahmutovic was quoted as saying by Tanjug. Erdoğan departed from Ankara late on Saturday in order to attend the 15th commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre on Sunday. After his attendance at the ceremony along with the presidents of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Erdoğan was scheduled to depart Bosnia for Belgrade.
“Our relations with Serbia, as it was confirmed during Mr. President’s visit to Serbia in October, are moving on a positive course towards the goal of strategic partnership,” Erdoğan told reporters at a press conference ahead of his departure from Ankara on Saturday, referring to a landmark visit to Serbia by President Abdullah Gül last October.
At the time, Gül became the first Turkish president to pay an official visit to Serbia since 1986.
“Of course, in the meantime, the actual infrastructure was formed through intense discussions between our foreign ministers, and the three countries have gotten together at the İstanbul gathering,” Erdoğan said.
The prime minister was referring to a historic summit that brought together the presidents of Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in İstanbul in April. The summit boosted hopes for a lasting peace in the region after years of hostilities and war.
Begun by the joint efforts of the foreign ministers of the three countries last year, the İstanbul summit was the first of its kind. In the meeting, where Serbian President Boris Tadic and Haris Silajdzic, the chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, shook hands for the first time, the Serbian president voiced support for Bosnia’s NATO and European Union membership aspirations and its territorial integrity. Bosnia and Serbia are often at loggerheads because of Serbia’s support for Bosnian Serb aggressors during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. This has sometimes led to local clashes despite an official end of hostilities.
While in Belgrade today, Erdoğan will have talks with both President Tadic and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. Later in the day he will also visit the province of Sandzak, where he will attend a ceremony to inaugurate the Turkish Culture House in Novi Pazar, the provincial capital.
The historical Sandzak is located in the center of the Balkan Peninsula in present-day Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia controls six municipalities of Sandzak, while Montenegro runs five. Once part of the Ottoman Empire, it covers a geographically diverse area stretching over 8,687 square kilometers of land. It borders Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Kosovo to the southeast and Albania to the south.
Bosniaks (Muslims by nationality) form the majority of Sandzak’s population.
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