Erdoğan’s advisor: Turkey wants stable Balkan

In his article for the Daily Sabah newspaper in English, considered close to the authorities, Ibrahim Kalin, the special advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, added that a strong Turkey was good for the Balkans, while the stable and prosperous Balkans were good for both Turkey and the world.

In the article titled “What Turkey wants in the Balkans”, Kalin said that “though it can sound too romantic, it is a reality that the Turks, Albanians, Bosniaks and others created the civilisation that spreads beyond the regional borders.

”He said that “there is no a Turk who looks at Sarajevo, Mostar, Skopje and Novi Pazar as the distant places, and that the Balkan Muslims feel the same about Istanbul, Bursa or cities in Anatolia.”

Kalin added that Turkey had been investing across the Balkans without ethnic or religious discrimination.

He also said that Ankara did not see any contradiction in developing good relations with Serbia on the one hand and with Bosnia on the other.

Also, Kalin wrote, Turkish attempts in persuading the international community to recognise Kosovo’s independence did not obstruct, but to the contrary, helped peace efforts in the region.