Relations between Ankara and Belgrade are at their highest level in history, Türkiye’s ambassador to Serbia Hami Aksoy said Wednesday.

Speaking at a media forum of the Yunus Emre Institute (YEE), Aksoy said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would soon visit Serbia while the two countries signed 26 agreements in the past five years, showing growing ties between Türkiye and Serbia.

He noted that Türkiye, which has a consulate general in Novi Pazar, will also open an Honorary Consulate in Novi Sad next year.

Aksoy underlined the YEE contributes to deepening cultural relations between the two countries. The institution has given Turkish language courses to 4,000 Serbians since it started operating in Belgrade.

"Serbians do not only learn Turkish from courses, but also through Turkish series with subtitles, which are highly popular."

"There is great interest toward Türkiye in Serbia. Last year, the number of tourists visiting Türkiye exceeded 360,000 – Serbia is a country of 6.5 million. Turkish Airlines operates six, sometimes seven flights a day to Istanbul. Last year, we started direct flights to Ankara and Izmir this year. All airlines in Serbia fly to Türkiye," he said.

Aksoy said that the image of Türkiye in Serbia is at the highest level and that Ankara is appreciated and admired for both its foreign policy and economy.

However, he emphasized the same cannot be said for the Serbian image in Türkiye and that this situation must be improved.