BURSA
Turkish Deputy Premier Bulent Arinc said, "We believe in the importance of providing permanent peace and stability in this geography, which is seen as the origin of fault line wars and shown as lacking stability, in order to achieve global peace and stability" in the RUMELISIAD International Balkan Summit, held in Bursa with the contribution of various institutions.
Arinc added, "Therefore, we support the Balkan countries' EU accession perspective together with the European Atlantic Alliance, in other words NATO membership".
Arinc stated that Bursa was the second city after Istanbul in terms of the export it made and many citizens with Balkan origin lived in Bursa.
"Nothing could be more normal for Turkey to show interest in the Balkans with which it shared deep historic, cultural and humanitarian ties. Turkey has no other priority than to see the prosperity and happiness of the nations living in the Balkans," Arinc noted.
"The success and future of Sarajevo, Tirana, Zagreb, Sofia, Pristina, Skopje, Bucharest, Belgrade, Athens and Ankara are common. Turkey wishes to see the Balkans as the center of peace, prosperity and security," Arinc underlined.
"The efforts of the Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TIKA) are designed to establish a zone of peace in the Balkans," Arinc also said.
