Vucic: Friendship between Serbia, Turkey Guarantee of Peace in Western Balkans

Aleksandar Vucic, BSF, Bled, September 1. 2021.(BETAPHOTO/STA/Nebojsa Tejic/MO)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after a Sept. 18 meeting in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that the friendship between Belgrade and Ankara was an additional safeguard for stability and peace across the Western Balkans.

Vucic told reporters that he expected President Erdogan to visit Serbia by the end of the year, adding that the visit would be a chance for both parties to discuss issues of relevance to the Balkans. The Serbian president said that he had discussed all regional issues with Erdogan, relations in the Western Balkans and political and other ties between Serbia and Turkey.

"We have also discussed matters that I prefer not to share with the public," Vucic said, adding that together with Erdogan he had raised the issue of the faster flow of goods and services between the two states.

The president also said during his visit to Istanbul that never in modern history had a state run a campaign as strong as the one against him in Croatia over the past few days. "A campaign against Serbia in the entire Croatian media is continuing...They want to say the worst about me, and 80 percent of what they have said I would gladly embrace and accept," Vucic said in an interview with Pink TV.