'Turkey fully supports North Macedonia's bid for EU membership'

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – Turkey fully supports North Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union, the Turkish parliament speaker said on Tuesday.

North Macedonia has made significant progress in every field since its independence 30 years ago, Mustafa Sentop said in an address to the country’s parliament.

He said Ankara attaches great importance to North Macedonia’s integration with European and Euro-Atlantic institutions.

“Turkey strongly supports North Macedonia’s push for full membership of the European Union,” said Sentop.

He emphasized that Turkey sees great potential in its economic relations with North Macedonia.

“Turkish companies are involved in multiple large-scale projects in North Macedonia, with investments in a wide range of sectors, including railways, road infrastructure, hydropower, gas distribution and solar energy,” he said.

“More than 5,000 people are employed in these projects and our investments have reached $1.3 billion.”

- Threat of FETO

Sentop warned that the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated 2016 coup in Turkey, still poses a threat to North Macedonia.

“We know that FETO is still present in North Macedonia and we expect concrete steps to be taken to eliminate it,” he said.

“We want our friend North Macedonia to be aware that FETO is not just a threat and national security risk for Turkey – it threatens every country where it has a presence.”

Ankara has made “significant progress in breaking the influence of FETO in all countries where it operates,” he added.

“Our aim is to completely eliminate FETO and its structure in foreign countries,” he stressed.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.