Türkiye to host 1st Balkan Peace Platform on Saturday

By Busranur Keskinkilic and Asiye Latife Yilmaz

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will host the first meeting of the Balkan Peace Platform on Saturday in Istanbul.

The meeting is expected to be attended by the foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, while Albania will be represented by its deputy foreign minister, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources.

The platform aims to enhance dialogue, mutual trust, and cooperation among regional countries, and to produce lasting solutions to regional issues.

At the informal consultation-format meeting, Fidan is expected to emphasize the importance of action guided by the principle of regional ownership.

Discussions will focus on strengthening regional integration, maintaining stability, and addressing current security risks. Concrete cooperation projects, particularly in connectivity, energy, communication, and transport corridors, will also be on the agenda.

Fidan will underline that the Balkan Peace Platform is not an alternative to other platforms or initiatives but complementary to them, stressing Türkiye’s prioritization of all constructive efforts contributing to regional peace, dialogue, and shared prosperity.

The Turkish foreign minister is also expected to hold bilateral talks on the margins of the meeting.

- Türkiye’s multilateral engagement in Balkans

The Balkan Peace Platform stands out as an initiative developed within Türkiye’s innovative diplomacy framework, aiming to meet the region’s needs.

Türkiye places great importance on leading and actively participating in multilateral platforms and initiatives in the Balkans. In this framework, Türkiye has established the Türkiye-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Serbia and Türkiye-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Croatia trilateral consultation mechanisms.

Ankara regularly engages in structures such as the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), Regional Cooperation Council, and the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Türkiye also contributes to regional stability through its participation in Kosovo’s NATO-led KFOR mission and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European Union Force (EUFOR) Althea mission.