Kurti in Ankara, talks about bilateral relations with Erdogan

2024-05-31 18:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, started a visit to Turkey on Friday, where he talked with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about bilateral relations and the possibilities of deepening economic and defense cooperation, the Office of the Prime Minister announced.

This is Kurt's second meeting with Erdogan in Turkey, after the one in Istanbul in February 2023.

"They discussed bilateral relations, inter-institutional relations, regional developments and new opportunities for cooperation in the economic and commercial spheres, as well as those of security and defense," the communique says.

Kurti will participate on Monday in the first economic forum between Kosovo and Turkey, which, according to him, will be an opportunity for deepening relations and increasing investments between the two countries.

Last summer, Kosovo bought Bayraktar TB-2 drones from Turkey. Kurti said at the time that with their purchase, Kosovo "is even safer", and added that the officers of the Kosovo Security Force have already been trained in the use of drones.

How many drones were purchased was not clear at the time. According to the communique on Friday, Kurti thanked Turkey for the support it has given to Kosovo in its efforts to join international organizations.

"Prime Minister Kurti... also express his thanks for Turkey's support for Kosovo's membership in NATO and for the vote of the Turkish deputies in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on April 16 of this year and the position of the Government of Turkey in the Committee of Ministers of this year organization", the communiqué continues.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly approved this month the recommendation for advancing the status of Kosovo from an observer member to an associate member.

This Assembly is institutionally separate from NATO, but serves as an important link between NATO and the parliaments of the member countries. It consists of 281 delegates from all 32 NATO member countries.

But even though Kosovo failed to become a member of the Council of Europe, even though it had successfully passed the first two stages, as the Committee of Ministers did not put the vote for its membership on the agenda at all, saying that it has not taken steps to enough towards the formation of an Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority./ Rel