LONDON
By Asli Aral and Inci Gundag
Member of the Bosnia Herzegovina Tripartite Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic has stated that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not say "Kosovo is part of Turkey" and added that some people wanted to hear it that way.
Anadolu Agency interviewed Izetbegovic during the two-day 9th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in London.
Assessing their attendance at the WIEF, he highlighted that half of Bosnia and Herzegovina's population was Muslims and that they were highly interested in the forum.
"Muslims are coming back on the scene, they have to have such forums (like WIEF), to decide, to see what should be their contribution," he noted.
Izetbegovic mentioned that Muslims made vital contributions to the world economy, culture and civilizations for centuries.
"And now it is time to do it again. Because the number of its citizens has doubled in the last 40 years. The economic growth is ten times higher than it was 40 years ago. There are greater numbers of schools, teachers and students. So obviously, it's time to coordinate, to see what can we do, and what we should do," Izetbegovic said.
He underscored that current economic relations between Muslim countries were not sufficient.
- Trilateral negotiations shouldn't be spoiled over Kosovo-Turkey remark
During an official visit to Kosovo two weeks ago, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said that Turkish and Kosovar citizens shared a common history, culture and civilization, and that "Kosovo is Turkey, and Turkey is Kosovo."
Upon the reminder of Erdogan's words and Serbia's reaction against them, Izetbegovic assessed the topic by saying, "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not say, 'Kosovo is part of Turkey', he did not say such a thing. It seems that some people wanted to hear it that way and then they seemed to be annoyed. These things should be clarified, because Serbia made some steps towards better relationships with Bosnia, with Turkey, and this shouldn't be spoiled."
Over the issue, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic stressed he wouldn't be participating at the trilateral meetings of Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina if Turkish authorities did not apologize for Erdogan's statement in Prizren, Kosovo.
A statement from the Office of the Serbian President noted, "We expect an apology from Turkey. Until we get it, as president of Serbia, I will not be present at trilateral meetings of Serbia-Turkey-Bosnia and Herzegovina."
Serbia is launching its EU membersip negotiations at the begining of next year. Noting that Bosnia and Herzegovina and all neighbouring countries wish to become EU member countries, Izetbegovic added, "Every success of Serbia, Montenegreo, Kosova is welcomed by us, and we congratulate it."
He refuted a recent news reports on how Arab countries invest more in Serbia than in Bosnia, asserting that Arab countries invest almost eight times more in Bosnia than Serbia and his wished to see investments increase further.
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