Albania, Turkey reaffirm joint view on Balkans, Mediterranean

Albania and Turkey agreed to move the position of their bilateral relationship to the highest level, Davutoğlu told reporters on Sunday at a joint press conference following his talks with Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ilir Meta, noting that there were no problems between Ankara and Tirana. The two ministers agreed on a mutual visa exemption, while also deciding to initiate a joint program for the training of Albanian and Turkish diplomats.

The two countries have been looking at the Balkans and the Mediterranean from the same point of view, Davutoğlu said, while underlining the significance he attached to a recent agreement between Macedonia and Kosovo, which he believes is an important development for the Balkans. The foreign minister was referring to the fact that Macedonia and Kosovo have settled a long-running border dispute, paving the way for them to establish full diplomatic ties.

Parliamentarians in Kosovo voted on Saturday to approve the deal, struck late on Friday, with 81out of the 120 members backing the motion. Their counterparts in Macedonia later ratified the agreement by a vote of 72 to 11 in the 120-member chamber. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said earlier on Saturday that it respected "the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and the peaceful settlement of disputes."

In response to a question, Davutoğlu recalled that during a telephone conversation held on Saturday, Turkey's President Abdullah Gül and US President Barack Obama discussed a wide range of global affairs, including the Balkans.

Obama and Gül also discussed “the need for sustained engagement in resolving the Cyprus problem and in promoting stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” the White House said in a statement about the conversation.

Turkey's diplomatic efforts concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina have visibly accelerated in recent times, Davutoğlu said. However, he warned that the structural transformation observed in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be in line with the principle of protection of its territorial integrity and political unity.

Meanwhile, Meta announced that President Gül is expected to pay an official visit to Albania in December.

‘Too early for dissolving OHR’

While in Sarajevo on Friday, Davutoğlu held talks with High Representative and European Union Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko and Haris Silajdzic, a member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency on Friday, as well as with political party leaders Sulejman Tihic, a former member of the tripartite presidency and the current head of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), and Zlatko Lagumdzija, the head the Social Democrats Party (SDP) -- a party with members from all three ethnic groups.

Speaking to Turkish and Bosnian and Herzegovinian reporters later on Friday, Davutoğlu hailed Bosnia and Herzegovina's election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2010-2011. “We accept Bosnia and Herzegovina as a neighbor, although it's not a bordering neighbor of ours,” Davutoğlu told reporters.

In response to a question concerning the possible closure of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in the country, Davutoğlu said Turkey believes that it is too early for such a move.  “Certain duties were assigned to him [the OHR] following the Dayton Agreement. We are not convinced that these duties have been fulfilled yet. Closing the OHR without having a functioning structure, a functional state, and without establishing a constitutional framework on which all parties agree may create significant problems,” Davutoğlu said.

“Of course, we would like complete sovereignty to be handed over to the Bosnian and Herzegovinian people through closure of the OHR immediately, but it is important that the related decision should be made by the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the leaders with whom I met today told me that it's still too early to do so,” he added.

Davutoğlu's talks in the region came only days before a key meeting between Bosnian leaders and top European Union and US officials scheduled for Tuesday.

The second round of talks on reforming the country's Constitution and unblocking a long-lasting political stalemate is the result of an initiative unexpectedly launched by both Brussels and Washington. The first meeting on Oct. 9, co-chaired by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and US Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg, ended without result.

Local leaders were given 10 days to overcome the huge differences in their views over Bosnia and Herzegovina's future before the EU and US diplomats return to Sarajevo with the hope to reach a compromise deal.