Erdogan urges Kosovo, Serbia to ease tension

By Enes Duran

ANKARA (AA) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday spoke over the phone with his counterparts in Serbia and Kosovo to discuss the detention of a Serb politician, according to a presidential source on Thursday.

Erdogan talked about the tension between Serbia and Kosovo after Marko Djuric, the head of Belgrade’s office for Kosovo, was detained on Monday in northern Kosovo.

The president called on Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia and Hashim Thaci to of Kosovo to take utmost care in ensuring that this incident would not harm the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

The dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo is of vital importance, Erdogan said.

Turkey is ready to provide any contribution to the peace between the two countries, he said.

Kosovo -- a former Serbian province -- declared independence in 2008 and is recognized by over 100 countries, including the U.S, the U.K, France, Germany, and Turkey.

Belgrade insists the territory is still part of Serbia.

In 2011 a Serbia-Kosovo dialogue was initiated by the EU, as it believes Serbian recognition of Kosovo should be the ultimate goal of negotiations.

Since then, negotiation teams from both states have been holding talks in Brussels.