The Turkish minister makes clear to Kosovo and Serbia: Violence, conflict, and war do not have to go into mind

Those comments, Fidan made at the joint press conference held after his meeting with Northern Macedonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Timco Mucunski, in Skopje.

Announcing that with counterpart Mutunski at today's meeting, regional issues have been discussed, Fidan said the Balkans are a geostrategic region.

Fidan stressed that the Balkans is a region that directly affects Europe's security and prosperity and said they have lived together in a friendly and brotherly manner for centuries, given respect for cultural diversity.

He further said that establishing stability, peace and prosperity across the Balkans is Turkey's top priority today.

The Turkish minister said that both Turkey, they take an active stance on resolving continuing problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo through peace and dialogue, adding that they support international efforts as well, but are also always looking for what they can do as Turkey.

Fidan also expressed support “to the end of” for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process, stressing that they try to contribute as much as they can. Turkey's top diplomat stressed that “focusing to solving the problem with peace and dialogue is the only “violence, conflict and war should not go into mind”.

Noting that the Balkans have experienced this with many pains in recent years and that lessons should be learned from these problems, Fidan said that “focus should not be in the personal benefits, but in the great prosperity, development and great interests that will come to the region through peace, dialogue and development”.

I believe that people in the region will have the opportunity to preserve their identity, protect their sovereignty and territorial integrity as a state and live in peace. But we need to think about this: Will we be able to reach maturity? Love the same for others as we want ourselves? When we achieve this, I believe peace will come to the region”, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, reports “Anadolu”, Klankosova.tv.

Among other things, he said the “political problems we face in the Balkans are a series of problems stemming from history. We have only one way: to do our best to solve these problems through peace and dialogue”.

Fidan pointed out that conflict and war bring destruction, as has been seen with much pain in recent history, and said a further “is that it is not enough to solve problems in the region only by international organisations and powerful non-racial actors”.

Stressing that countries of the region should show regional ownership and protect their problems, Fidan said: “like Turkey, in the context of the political vision presented by our president, we are very sensitive for regional ownership not only in the Balkans, but also in other geography. Because waiting for someone else to come and solve our problems is also the thinking of ease, but, unfortunately, problems can never be solved so quickly or in the way we want”.

Minister Fidan will stay in Kosovo on Friday for an official visit.