Discussion on Bosnia’s integrity dangerous: Turkey

SARAJEVO

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on May 5 that to bring the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina into question would be dangerous for the region and entire Europe, while reacting on an informal policy paper floating around the EU circles that divides the Balkan nation along three ethnic lines.

“I would like to emphasize once again that such discussions are very dangerous not only for the region but also for the whole of Europe,” Çavuşoğlu told at a joint press conference with Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic in Sarajevo on May 5.

Çavuşoğlu paid a two-day trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina and met senior leadership in Sarajevo.

Çavuşoğlu’s visit to Sarajevo came after an informal EU policy paper proposed to carve up the Bosnia-Herzegovina’s federal structure, creating anger in the country. The policy paper suggests Bosnia’s majority-ethnic Serb parts should join Serbia, its Croatian parts should join Croatia, and its remainder to become an independent state for Bosnians. It added that Kosovo should also join with Albania to create another country.

Çavuşoğlu said he discussed the policy paper with Slovenian authorities during his visit to Ljubljana on May 4, informing that Slovenia had not owned and approved the policy paper. Turkey will always continue to support Bosnia’s territorial integrity and political unity, he said.

Describing his talks with Turkovic as constructive, Çavuşoğlu said, “Together with all our friends, we discussed how we could develop our politically perfect relations in different areas.”

He vowed Turkey’s assistance to Bosnia’s fight against the coronavirus would endure in the coming period, recalling that Turkey has already provided vaccines to Sarajevo. “We are working for vaccine supply. Our national vaccines will be in use soon too. Therefore, we will continue to support friendly and brotherly Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the bounds of possibility, with the supply of the vaccines we obtain in the future.” he said.