Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is committed to easing tensions between Kosovo and Serbia as well as the political impasse in Bosnia and Herzegovina, following a government session in Ankara.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Erdogan has positioned himself as a key mediator in the war, negotiating prisoner swaps and the movement of grain from Ukrainian ports. With presidential elections looming in June 2023, he is keen to position himself as a diplomat and global statesman in a bid to boost his chances at the polls.
“We continued our efforts to resolve the political deadlock in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to ease the tension in the relations between Kosovo and Serbia”, he emphasised.
In September, Erdogan spoke of his support for Kosovo and Serbia in overcoming their challenges and hoped for a durable solution to the ongoing tensions.
When asked who he believed was to be blamed for the crisis in Ukraine, Erdogan said at a press conference he shared with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, that Turkey always supported a policy of balance between Russia and Ukraine.
“There are several states in the West whose approach we don’t see as the right one. There’s a policy based on incitements, which is the one pursued by the West. When you plan to carry out a policy based on provocation, you can’t have results,” the Turkish president said.
In May 2022, he also voiced support for Kosovo joining NATO following a meeting with President Vjosa Osmani.
“Turkey, as an important NATO country, does not see anything wrong with Kosovo’s membership in NATO. We do not need anyone’s permission to support the NATO membership process,” he said at the time.
“We have taken steps. As we did in the case of recognition, so we will do for the process of Kosovo’s membership in NATO,” he added back then.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following the bloody 1998-1999 war which saw 1.4 million ethnic Albanians displaced and was ended by a NATO-led bomb campaign against Belgrade forces. Despite over a decade of EU and US-facilitated talks, relations remain strained and Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as an independent country.
During November and December, the situation erupted into minor conflicts between ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Pristina authorities. This included attacks on central electoral commission sites, protests, and the blocking of arterial roads and border crossing points.
The situation was defused through EU and US diplomacy and the work of KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force stationed in the country since the end of the war.
Kosovo applied for EU membership at the end of 2023 and it is now being considered by the Sweden-led Presidency of the EU Council, but with five EU member states not recognising Kosovo, the road to membership is expected to be long and full of obstacles.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
Source: euractiv.com
