ANKARA (AA) - July 25, 2012 - Turkish Customs & Trade Minister Hayati Yazici has said that Turkey suspended procedures at its border gates with Syria.
Turkey has not closed down border gates with Syria. We have only suspended the procedures at the gates, Yazici told a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday.
Yazici noted that crossings of Turkish citizens as passengers or with commercial purposes via Turkey's Cilvegozu, Oncupinar and Karkamis border gates to Syria were suspended, adding that also traffic of Syrian-plated vehicles was halted.
On the other hand, Yazici said that passenger traffic at Akcakale and Yayladagi border gates is continuing.
We have also suspended crossings of commercial vehicles of third countries to Syria, while we will allow entrance of third country citizens from Syria to Turkey, Yazici said.
Earlier, Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said that Turkey suspended crossings of its trucks to Syria.
Turkey's border gates along border with Syria were closed to crossings of trucks, Caglayan said, adding, "we have serious concerns regarding the safety of Turkish trucks while crossing to and from Syria."
Dozens of Turkish trucks were either looted or torched during clashes between opponents and Syrian army in the border crossing of Bab al-Hawa last week.
Caglayan said that transportation from Turkey to Syria decreased 87 percent in January-May period of 2012 when compared to the same period of 2011, adding that trade with Syria dropped to 337 million USD, and electricity energy export constituted nearly 110 million USD of this figure.
5,244 trucks carried cargo from Turkey to Syria in Jan-May period of 2012, said Caglayan, adding that it had been 36,966 trucks in the same period of 2011.
