ISTANBUL (CIHAN) - Syrian Prime Minister Muhammed Naci Otri said on Wednesday his country sees Turkey as a sister country.
The Syrian Prime Minister, paying a two-day visit to Turkey to boost warming relations, said on Wednesday in Istanbul that it was not possible to distinguish a Turk from a Syrian. "There is no distinction between them. It is not possible. Turks and Syrians are unified."
Otri came with Turkish businessmen to Istanbul following the talks Ankara. Speaking at the meeting of the Foreign Economic Relations Committee Council, the Syrian Prime Minister called on Turkish businessmen to invest in neighboring Syria.
Economic and social relations between Turkey and Syria have drastically improved following the Syrian decision to withdraw its support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK/Kongra-Gel) and to deport a PKK leader from Syria in 1998.
Syria handed over nearly 60 PKK/Kongra-Gel militants to Turkish authorities in line with the agreement between Turkey and Syria.
The visit of Syrian Prime Minister Otri was a thaw in relations between the two neighboring countries.
Turkey-Syria relations received a tremendous boost when Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Turkey in January 2003. It was the first visit of a Syrian President to Turkey in the Syrian Republic's 56-year history.
The Syrian Prime Minister said that close political relations should be emulated in economic relations.
"The economic relations with Turkey should be elevated to the level of strong and strategic political ties," Otri said, adding that the two countries should stand firm against challenges, threats and impositions."
The thaw in relations between Turkey and Syria coincides with strained ties between Israel and Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan received the Syrian Prime Minister while he refused to receive Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Otri urged Turkish businessmen to come Syria with reasonable prices and to offer high quality work.
The two countries want to increase their foreign trade volume to $2 billion for 2004. The trade volume between two countries was 840 million US dollars for 2003.