Turkey is stability factor in Balkans: Int’l envoy

By Zlatan Kapic and Kayhan Gul

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (AA) – Turkey is contributing to the stability in the Balkans both politically and culturally, said an international envoy.

“Turkey is a factor of stability in the Balkans both in the political and cultural area,” High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko said told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

He underlined the aids by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and the good relations of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with his Serbian and Croatian counterparts, Alexander Vucic and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, respectively, for its role in the Balkans.

Inzko also said that Turkey plays an “extremely positive” role in the region.

“For example, when you go to a village in Eastern Bosnia, you see TIKA [Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency] has been there before you,” he explained.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina should stand on its own feet more powerful with support of its friends,” Inzko said.

The role of High Representative was created under the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, usually referred to as the Dayton Peace Agreement that was negotiated in Dayton, Ohio, and signed in Paris on 14 December 1995, ended a brutal civil war in Bosnia that resulted in around 100,000 deaths over three-and-a-half years.