Turkey supports Macedonia's NATO membership
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Sunday he hoped that Macedonia would become a member of NATO.
Gul and Macedonia's President Branko Crvenkovski held a joint press conference in Skopje, Macedonia after holding a bilateral meeting and charing meetings between delegations of the two countries.
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Turkey attached great importance to Macedonia, which had a strategic importance in Balkans, and respected territorial integrity and political unity of Macedonia, Gul said.
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"I believe that Macedonia will achieve its goal on its EU bid," he said. Gul said Crvenkovski and he also discussed economic relations in the meeting and agreed that Turkish businessmen should make more investments in Macedonia.
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Macedonia's President Crvenkovski said Turkey fully supported Macedonia since his country gained independence. Turkey and Macedonia had common historic and cultural characteristics as well as a common vision in regard to full EU membership, Crvenkovski
said.
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After the press conference, President Gul also had a meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.