Croatia supports Turkey’s path towards the European Union.
Croatia wants Turkey, as an important partner of the EU and in particular of Croatia, due to the Turkish influence in Southeast Europe, to continue its path towards the European Union, but it must meet all the criteria, said on Saturday in Bratislava Foreign Minister Miro Kovač, reports HRT on September 4, 2016.
“Turkey is for all of us in the European Union, and especially for us in Croatia, a very important partner because it has great influence in southeast Europe, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro”, said the Minister after a meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 EU members states and Turkey’s European Affairs Minister Omer Celik.
“We want Turkey to continue its path towards the EU”, he said, adding that Ankara had to fulfil all the criteria. Kovač said that it depended on the Turkish authorities, which should be “democratic in dealing with those who wanted to topple the legally elected authorities”.
Minister Kovač said that the EU ministers had listened to their Turkish colleague who gave them some details about the coup attempt which they did not know. “He presented the Turkish perspective on developments there, and the efforts which Turkey is carrying out in order to get closer to the EU. Celic explained how the coup attempt developed. Of course, we knew a lot of it but we did get some new information as well.”
