Speaking at a joint press conference with President Osmani-Sadriu of Kosovo, Erdoğan said: “We as one of the first countries to have recognized Kosovo have provided support for our Kosovar brothers and sisters in every area since the very first day. We attach great importance to Kosovo taking its rightful place in the international arena as well as to its development. We are very pleased that the Kosovar people grow more prosperous with our country’s contributions as well.”

“The value Türkiye attaches to Kosovo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is known by all”

Erdoğan said: “We exchanged our views on the developments taking place in our region, the Balkans and Ukraine in particular. Besides our political relations, we reviewed potential steps that could be taken in order to enhance our cooperation in the spheres of economy, trade, energy, defense industry, culture, education, healthcare, and anti-terror fight.”

Underscoring that the value Türkiye attached to Kosovo’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political unity was known by all, Erdoğan noted: “We as one of the first countries to have recognized Kosovo have provided support for our Kosovar brothers and sisters in every area since the very first day. We attach great importance to Kosovo taking its rightful place in the international arena as well as to its development. We are very pleased that the Kosovar people grow more prosperous with our country’s contributions as well.”

Pointing out that TİKA, which he underlined had been carrying out activities in Kosovo since 2004, had successfully completed nearly 700 projects there, Erdoğan noted: “Turkish companies, for their part, have thus far made investments valued at some 400 million Euros in Kosovo. Our firms stand ready to increase their investments in Kosovo, especially in the field of energy.”

“Our bilateral trade volume reached some 600 million dollars”

Drawing attention to Kosovo’s increasing exportation to Türkiye, Erdoğan said: “Despite the pandemic, our bilateral trade volume reached some 600 million dollars last year, having increased by more than 52 percent. I believe this figure will further increase once the world eliminates the impacts of the pandemic. The Kosovar Turkish community constitutes the social aspect of our relations with Kosovo. We proudly follow the contributions made by our kinsmen to Kosovo’s development in every sphere of life.”

“It is of utmost importance that all the actors in and beyond our region prioritize regional peace and stability. Türkiye wants Kosovo to develop good relations with all its neighbors, and support the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process. It is our sincere desire that the process will end as soon as possible with a comprehensive agreement in a way to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region. Let me reiterate, we, with this understanding, stand ready to do our best for regional peace and stability,” Erdoğan stressed.

Stating that the joint fight against FETO was also on the agenda of the talks, Erdoğan said: “It is extremely important to eliminate this terrorist organization which threatened our democracy and nefariously killed our 251 citizens. I conveyed to my treasured counterpart our rightful expectations about the steps we want to be taken on the basis of our friendly and brotherly ties.” (ILKHA)