ANKARA: Turkish Foreign Minister, Serbian President Discuss Kosovo

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, SERBIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSS KOSOVO

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
April 19 2007

Belgrade, 19 April: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had several
bilateral talks in Serbian capital of Belgrade on the sidelines of
the 16th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).

Romanian FM Adrian Cioroianu, Serbian President Boris Tadic, Russian
FM Sergey Lavrov were the executives with whom Gul had talks.

Meanwhile, Gul had a brief talk with Armenian FM Vartan Oskanyan.

According to sources, Gul exchanged views about developments regarding
Kosovo with Tadic. Tadic said that Kosovo is important for them while
Gul said that Turkey attaches great importance to the Balkans and
stressed that everybody should refrain from acts that may destabilize
the region.

Gul noted that Turkey is taking joint action with the international
community regarding Kosovo. "What is important is to ensure a model
in which the majority has the right to speak but the minority rights
are also protected," he stated.

During their meeting, Lavrov said that Russian President Vladimir
Putin will most probably attend the BSEC Heads of State and Government
Summit to be held in Istanbul in June 2007.