Turkey lobbying hard for Kosovo, says Tirana

ERISA DAUTAJ ŞENERDEM

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey is strongly lobbying for increasing the number of countries that recognize Kosovo, according to Albaninan President Bamir Topi.

“I had the opportunity to raise [the issue of recognition of Kosovo] with Turkish President Abdullah Gül, who also informed me that he had a discussion with the President of Brazil Dilma Roussef on the issue of Kosovo’s recognition,” Topi said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News after participating in a Turkey-Albania Business Council meeting at Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) in Istanbul.

Brazil is not among the 85 states that have recognized Kosovo since it declared independence in 2007. The Gulf state of Kuwait announced yesterday that it has recognized Kosovo as an independent country and has decided to establish diplomatic ties at the ambassadorial level, according to an AFP report.

Turkey’s authorities have a solid resolve to support new recognitions of Kosovo, and are lobbying other countries continue recognizing the new state, Topi said. “The perspective is optimistic and we expect more countries to recognize Kosovo in the future.”

The position of the Albanian state regarding Kosovo is the same. The situation in Kosovo is irrevocable regarding its independence and functioning as a sovereign state, the Albanian president said. “This has been demonstrated even by the planet’s strongest states, including the United States, a majority of European Union member states and Turkey.”

Regarding efforts by the EU to bring Kosovo and Serbia back to the negotiating table after tension in northern Kosovo, Topi said: “I am confident that the EU will not fail in the orientation of these discussions.”

Kosovo’s government ruled out talks with Serbia over the flashpoint on Oct. 10, as the EU facilitator for the Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue, Robert Cooper, began a two-day visit in a bid to revive talks between the two sides, according to an AFP report. “Kosovo has a clear platform (for the talks) with red lines. The independence, territorial integrity and internal structure and system of Kosovo,” Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said in a statement.

“Talks also have their own complications. They do not always progress as required. But this is a process and within a process. We encourage fluidity and continuity of negotiations,” Albania’s President Topi said. The talks, as already stated by Kosovo’s institutions, will be realized for all issues of reciprocal interests of technical character, but starting from positions of sovereignty, which means Kosovo and Serbia can negotiate as two independent sovereign countries, he added.

The dialogue was interrupted in late September following a new wave of violence in northern Kosovo where the Serb population, which remains loyal to Belgrade, is concentrated. The situation there remains tense.

Asked whether there are formal or informal talks between Albania and Kosovo on a possible unification of the two countries, Topi said: “Albania and Kosovo are two states that have a single aspiration, to be members of the EU, and in a symbolic sense, unification of the two states will occur in Brussels, as it will happen for other countries.”

Topi also called for Turkish companies to invest more in Albania, especially in the tourism sector, during his speech at the business council. “Economic relations do not yet respond to the excellent relations between the two countries at the political level. We have taken notes of all suggestions [by Turkish business representatives] and will work to attract more Turkish investments to Albania, particularly in the fields of tourism, energy and mining,” he said.

via Turkey lobbying hard for Kosovo, says Tirana – Hurriyet Daily News.