Ankara talks yield fruit: Bosnia to appoint envoy to Serbia

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu hosted Bosnian Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj and Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic in Ankara on Tuesday for a trilateral meeting that marked the fifth such meeting between the foreign ministers.

The first of meetings were held in October, on the sidelines of a ministerial-level gathering of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in İstanbul, when Davutoğlu, as the foreign minister of Turkey holding the chairmanship-in-office of the SEECP, brought together Jeremic and Alkalaj.

Speaking at a joint press conference following his meeting with Jeremic and Alkalaj, Davutoğlu said they have kept the promise they made at their first trilateral meeting and had managed to come together five times in the last five months.

These trilateral talks have borne their first fruit, and Bosnia and Herzegovina will soon appoint an ambassador to Serbia, leading to overcoming the difficulties of the last three years.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia have diplomatic relations and maintain embassies in each other’s capitals. Yet, for the past several years the position of Bosnia’s ambassador to Serbia has been vacant, with a chargé d’affaires running the embassy.

According to Davutoğlu, the goal of the trilateral talks was to share their joint vision regarding the region, save the Balkans from becoming a zone of conflict and tension and finally save this region from its image of being a region where counties and societies constantly view each with prejudice.

They aim at promoting the Balkans as a “zone for cooperation and consultation and for resolving issues through diplomacy,” Davutoğlu said.

“Today, I can happily say that in the last five months this mechanism among Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia has led to a significant restoration in the image of the Balkans,” Davutoğlu added, while offering his thanks to his counterparts for their understanding and vision as well as open-minded approaches. “This is really on its own a new and beautiful development for our region. For us, every friendship in the Balkans is a step enlightening the future,” he said, noting that they would continue their regular talks with Sarajevo being set as venue for the meeting next month and Belgrade for the meeting in April.

Speaking at the same press conference, Alkalaj first of all underlined that these talks have been held for “the sake of the region,” while he wittily noted that his Turkish and Serbian would develop quickly because they have been meeting so frequently.

Calling his country’s decision to appoint an ambassador to Serbia a “concrete step,” Alkalaj added, “This is important not only for the two countries, but is also important for the region.”

Alkalaj also suggested that the timing of such a concrete move was important in regards to prospects of building welfare and stability in the Balkans. When he took the podium, the Serbian minister expressed his pleasure over “being among friends” in Ankara.

“These meetings are one of the best examples in [recent times of] regional cooperation in the Balkans,” Jeremic said.

Admitting that they would continue the talks, he added: “This cooperation is yielding concrete results. In the past, there was a chaotic environment, and now this has disappeared. We thank Davutoğlu and Turkey for this, for resolving this deadlock.”

The Balkans has experienced a painful period, and disagreements need to be removed, Jeremic said, while admitting that this would not be easy when painful memories are still fresh in people’s minds.

These problems need to be left in the past despite difficulties in order to be able to achieve progress, Jeremic said, appreciating the fact that the appointment of a Bosnian ambassador to Serbia was not an easy step to take. The next steps that need to be made will probably be more difficult, he said, but added: “We will never surrender. We are the peoples of the Balkans, and it is important to work together for the future of the Balkans.”

Jeremic, meanwhile, responded to his Bosnian counterpart with a witty gesture as well when he said, “The Bosnian minister’s Serbian is even better than mine, but he can improve his Turkish.”