Erdoğan urges Kosovo, Serbia to ease tension

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 29 spoke over the phone with his counterparts in Serbia and Kosovo to discuss the recent detention of a Serbian politician in northern Kosovo, according to a presidential source.

Erdoğan spoke about the tension between Serbia and Kosovo after Marko Djuric, the head of Belgrade’s office for Kosovo, was detained.

The president called on Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia and Hashim Thaci of Kosovo to take utmost care in ensuring that this incident does not harm the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Kosovo, a former Serbian province, declared independence in 2008 and is recognized by over 100 countries, including the U.S, the U.K., France, Germany, and Turkey.

Belgrade insists the territory is still part of Serbia.

In 2011 dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo was initiated by the EU, which believes Serbian recognition of Kosovo should be the ultimate goal of negotiations.

Since then, negotiation teams from both states have been holding talks in Brussels.