Some Western states view Türkiye as a rival in the Balkans, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday, underlining that Ankara will continue to work for peace and stability in the region.
Speaking during a joint press conference with Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Bisera Turković in the capital Ankara, Çavuşoğlu said, "We are taking concrete steps for peace and stability in the Balkans. We are a country that has gained the trust of all three ethnicities of the Balkans and equally meet with all stakeholders. Sometimes the tension escalates and we try to deescalate it."
Çavuşoğlu also reiterated that Türkiye supports the NATO membership of the country.
Thanking Türkiye for supporting the Balkans, Turković for her part said, "History unites the two countries. We will have a common future in the EU and NATO. Sooner or later we will be together."
"Without a strong Türkiye, the Western Balkans certainly could not have lived in peace," she added.
During the war that killed 100,000 people and turned half of the country’s population into refugees, Bosniaks and Croats were persecuted and almost completely expelled from the now Serb-administered half of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
After the war, under the terms of the United States-brokered Dayton peace agreement, Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided into two semi-autonomous governing entities – Republika Srpska, and one dominated by Bosniaks and Croats. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but are linked by shared, statewide institutions, including the judiciary, army, security agencies and tax administration. All actions at a national level require consensus from all three ethnic groups.
On the other side, Çavuşoğlu said that Türkiye has not seen the expected results when it comes to the presence of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Our expectation from the new government to be established is concrete support in our fight against FETÖ."
The two countries also recently agreed on working together for enabling citizens to travel with ID cards without the requirement for passports. "Negotiations on this agreement continue. We have forwarded the draft and would like to sign it as soon as possible."