Daily Sabah
June 20, 2022

Kosovo has ‘excellent relations’ with Turkey, President Osmani says

Kosovo shares “excellent interstate relations” with Turkey, its President Vjosa Osmani said Sunday after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

According to a statement released by the presidency in the capital Pristina, Osmani and Çavuşoğlu discussed bilateral cooperation in foreign policy, defense, trade, and other fields, as well as current developments in the region and Europe.

Osmani stressed that integrating the Western Balkans into the Euro-Atlantic structures restricts Russia’s influence and destabilizing tendency in the region, the statement said.

“I appreciate President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan’s clear support for Kosovo’s membership in NATO and other international institutions. We need such support from Turkey for Kosovo’s candidacy to the Council of Europe,” the president said.

She emphasized that Turkey is one of their important NATO partners and that the Turkish community in Kosovo, as well as the large Albanian diaspora in Turkey, serves as a strong bridge between the two countries.