ANKARA
Ukrainian Ambassador Korsunsky has said that they are sympathetic with Turkey's attitude regarding Syria issue and said, "I cannot imagine how enormous this burden on Turkish economy and society is with this more than 100,000 refugees you host on the border with Syria."
Touching Syria issue, Korsunsky stressed that Ukraine is worried over the latest developments happening in Syria and added, "We are very much concerned about the situation in Syria."
He noted that after the changes in the Middle East they were worried about the lives of their people who live in Syria and he said, "there were several thousands of Ukrainian citizens, mostly women, who lived in Syria and suffered from this conflict, we have already sent 4-5 planes to Damascus to evacuate our citizens from Syria. We also evacuated citizens of other countries like Belarus and Poland." He expressed that trading lines of Ukraine were frozen cause of the developments in the region and that is why their trading and commerce were affected negatively.
He highlighted their support for Turkey's Syria policy and said, "We are very sympathetic with Turkey's attitude and position on Syria. I cannot imagine how enormous this burden on Turkish economy and society is with this more than 100,000 refugees you host on the border with Syria."
Korsunsky also focused on Syria's artillery attack on Akcakale caused killing of Turkish citizens, he said, "The thing is absolutely unacceptable that physical fire reached from Syria on Turkish territory and people died who were innocent women and kids. We sincerely hope that there is way out of the situation definitely a ceasefire or direct talks between Turkey and Syria would be helpful."
Regarding relations with the European Union, ambassador clarified that they support Turkey's bid to join the EU.
He continued saying, "We completely support Turkish membership, for us it is not an issue of discussion. We think that after 50 years of associations and 7 years of practical negotiations, Turkey deserves to see the end of this long road and definitely the question is about the EU."
Ukrainian ambassador reminded the visa agreement between which became effective on August 1, 2012 had positive effects and since the visa requirements were lifted, number of Ukrainians who visited Turkey rose 20 percent and added, "What is even more surprising for me is that Turkish Airlines is going to increase drastically the number of flights to Ukraine. It is now 72 flights per week and they are going to double it. and that's the indication that probably the number of Turkish citizens visiting Ukraine will at least double."
Reporting by Duygu Ozbay
