French President Macron, just like in a speech he made last year, has used expressions in the European Parliament about the Balkans being an area of rivalry for the EU, Turkey and the Russian Federation. This understanding that views the Balkans as a sphere of influence is not constructive.

Being a Balkan country as well, Turkey’s aim and priority in this region today, as it has been in the past, is the maintenance and strengthening of peace, stability and sustainable development. With this objective, we continue to support membership of all countries in the region to European and Euro-Atlantic institutions.

We hope that France will contribute, at least as much as Turkey, to integration efforts of our friends in the Balkans to the EU and NATO. Within this framework, we advise France to try to understand better the contribution efforts of Turkey for the stability of the Balkans.