UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT, HEAD OF BOSNIA'S PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL
By Burak Bir
ANKARA (AA) - Highlighting Ankara's decisive position on the Eastern Mediterranean issue, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday his country will not step back from it.
Speaking at a joint news conference with members of the Presidential Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Turkish capital Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey is in a decision-making position in the Eastern Mediterranean and "its determined stance remains the same."
No concessions are possible for Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, he said.
Responding to a question on diplomatic contacts between Ankara and Cairo, Erdogan said Egyptian people do not contradict Turkey.
Turkey will send 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Turkish president said, and added that the country aims to expand the trade volume with Sarajevo to $1 billion as soon as possible.
***Stressing that they evaluated bilateral ties and discussed ways to boost trade volume, Erdogan said Turkey attaches great importance to peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
***Erdogan also noted that he wishes to see a trilateral summit between Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia as well as bringing into effect the Turkey-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Croatia mechanism.
***- Interest in TurkStream pipeline
For his part, head of Bosnia's Presidential Council Milorad Dodik said they are interested in the TurkStream pipeline.
The 930-kilometer (578-mile) TurkStream pipeline will carry Russian gas under the Black Sea through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary, with another section reaching Turkey.
The project is the biggest-diameter offshore gas pipeline in the world laid at such depths with a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters per year.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, ties between the two countries grew, he stressed, pointing out the deals signed between Ankara and Sarajevo.
***On the Sarajevo-Belgrade Highway Project, Dodik mentioned had Erdogan not taken the initiative, Bosnia would not be able to complete the project: "This initiative and the efforts of the President [Erdogan] make an important contribution to the realization of this project."
***He said ties between Ankara and Sarajevo should be an example for everyone and thanked the Turkish president for Turkey's support for Bosnia's fight against the virus.
***"Because of this global system, unfortunately we have not been able to receive vaccines so far," Dodik said, adding Turkey and Slovenia are the two countries that help them most.