The presidents of Turkey and Serbia exchanged views on the ongoing Kosovo talks and the situation in the Balkans yesterday, during an official visit to Ankara by the Serbian president.
Boris Tadic, accompanied by Serbian businessmen, arrived in Ankara yesterday afternoon and held talks with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Gül and Tadic reviewed the latest on the thus far fruitless Kosovo talks, regional and international issues and economic ties.
He will travel to Istanbul today to attend a gathering of the members of the Turkish-Serbian business council, where economic cooperation opportunities will be discussed.
Tadic came to Ankara a day after an attempt by international mediators to negotiate a settlement on Kosovo’s future status ended in a stalemate, with neither Serbia nor the breakaway province’s ethnic Albanian leaders willing to budge. Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority demands full independence, while Serbia offers broad autonomy but insists the southern province remain part of its territory. Kosovo, which is officially Serbian territory, has been under United Nations administration since 1999.
The Serbian president’s visit is expected to consolidate bilateral relations, which gained new momentum in September when the Serbian Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Zdravko Ponos visited his Turkish counterpart Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt in Ankara. Ponos had thanked Büyükanıt for extending Turkey’s support to Serbia’s NATO bid and said that Serbia is eager to sign a wide defense cooperation agreement with Turkey.
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