Ankara starts initiative for Bosnia’s NATO status

BRUSSELS - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Davutoglu chats with his counterparts Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lagumdzija and Croatia’s Pusic during a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers with non-ISAF contributing nations at a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels

Turkey started an initiative with several Balkan countries yesterday to push NATO to recognize the Membership Action Plan (MAP) status of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the Turkish foreign minister.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey and Bulgaria, along with several Balkan countries, have prepared a joint letter, speaking after the NATO foreign and defense ministers’ meeting.

“After the formation of a government in Bosnia, there was a compromise for paving the way for Bosnia’s membership in NATO,” said Davutoğlu yesterday at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Memmedyarov in Brussels. Davutoğlu said he met with his Bosnian counterpart on April 18 and planned some steps to take ahead of the alliance’s crucial Chicago summit on May 21. Two years ago, NATO foreign ministers had agreed to recognize the Membership Action Plan (MAP) status of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the condition that the Bosnian government record military areas and facilities. Representatives of the different ethnicities of Bosnia, including Serbs, agreed to the recording of the military areas by the government last month.