Deputy PM seeks "urgent apology" from Turkey

Source: RTS, Naše novine

BELGRADE -- "Kosovo is not Turkey," Aleksandar Vučić said on Thursday, and asked for "an urgent apology" from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

(Tanjug)

Serbia's first deputy PM was reacting to Erdogan's statement in the town of Prizren earlier this week, where he said that “Kosovo is Turkey, and Turkey is Kosovo."
"I consider that statement to be a scandal and I am seeking an urgent apology from Turkey and its Prime Minister Erdogan. That is unacceptable behavior in international relations and it needs to be seen how other countries will react," Vučić, who was in Tel Aviv, Israel, told the daily Naše Novine late on Thursday.

He also stressed that Erdogan was well aware that Kosovo has not been Turkish "since the Balkan Wars."

According to Vučić, the statement "only shows the real intentions of some countries in our surroundings."

"Many hide behind nice words, but it takes emotions to start working, to understand what interests are hiding behind the scenery," Vučić said.

The deputy prime minister added that Serbia must react strongly, "but sensibly":

"Our task is to act rationally, but on the other hand do everything so that this type of statement meets with broad condemnation of the international community."

In a statement given to the Večernje Novosti daily, Prime Minister Ivica Dačić said that Erdogan's statement was "undiplomatic" and that the words spoken in Prizren "certainly do not contribute to political stability in Kosovo and Metohija, or to the restoration of confidence between the Serbs and the Albanians."

The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Thursday that Erdogan's pronouncements were "not friendly."