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Gül says Turkey committed to Western Balkans
Gül, who is heading a large business delegation on a two-day visit to Bosnia, said Turkey will continue with intense diplomacy aimed at helping Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia to overcome differences that have remained since the 1990s wars in the region. He rejected criticism by Bosnian Serb leaders that Turkey favors Bosnia’s Muslims over the country’s Serb and Croat people. “Achievement of a lasting peace, security and stability in the region is at the heart of our policy,” Gül said after meeting with members of the tripartite Bosnian presidency.
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik accused Turkey on Thursday of having a “hidden agenda” for the Balkans, saying the Serbs should not be “naive” about Turkey’s intentions.
Gül said Turkey had no intention of interfering in the “internal affairs” of the former Yugoslav countries, but added, “Nobody can prevent us from cooperating amongst ourselves.”
In an address to Bosnia’s parliament later on Thursday, Gül said Turkey considered all Balkan countries its neighbors “regardless of whether we share a border or not.”
“We want to see this region become the heart of Europe ... a crossroads of important political and economic corridors,” he said. “Anything outside this is not on our agenda,” he added, rejecting comments to the contrary as “tendentious.” Despite Turkey’s improving relations with Serbia, Bosnian Serbs regard Turkey’s growing influence in the Western Balkans with suspicion. Turkey has had traditionally close ties with Muslim Bosniaks, while its relations with Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia were strained during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, which pitted Serbs against Muslims.
Gül also urged Bosnian leaders as he spoke before Bosnian deputies to speed up their country’s efforts to join NATO and the EU, saying that only a united Bosnia can secure peace and stability in the Balkans. “Without permanent peace and security in Bosnia we cannot talk about peace and security in the Balkans and Europe,” Gül stated.
“Turkey is a devoted defender of the peace in the Balkans, and we see it as our ethic debt to help,” he said. “The Balkans represents the door to the West and is very important for us.”
He called on Bosnian leaders, regardless of their ethnic background, to make the elections on Oct. 3 a turning point for the country’s future, stressing that only a united Bosnia, based on compromise, can integrate into NATO and the EU.
Dodik said Gül’s visit was aimed only at backing the political interests of Bosnian Muslims who want a more centralized state, which the Serbs oppose as they fear losing their autonomy.
Bosnia comprises two autonomous regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and Republika Srpska, which has revived the idea of a referendum on secession from Bosnia after the International Court of Justice in July ruled that Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia was legal.
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