Balkan

[hoj]

ANKARA (AFP)--Turkey will press for Albania to be invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at the alliance's summit in April, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Tuesday.

"Turkey will give strong support for an invitation to be extended to Albania, along with the two other candidates, Croatia and Macedonia, at the NATO summit in Bucharest in April," Babacan said after talks with his Albanian counterpart Lulzim Basha.

No decision has been made about which, if any, of the three Balkans states will be invited. NATO foreign ministers are expected to take up the issue at a meeting in Brussels next month ahead of the summit.

Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are members of NATO's Membership Action Plan, which is designed to assist aspiring partner countries meet standards and prepare for possible future membership.

Albania hopes to receive an invitation, which will bring it one step closer to actual membership, but has been urged to make deeper and irreversible electoral, judicial and defense reforms.

Basha thanked Turkey for its support. It also hailed its swift recognition of Kosovo's independence which, he said, "cemented the friendship" between the two countries.

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EU-Gesandter: "Keine Teilung des Kosovo"

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Wieso nicht? ich würde Kosovo lieber sofort teilen und dann albanisches Teil an Albanien und den serbischem an Serbien abgeben. Damit wird man viel Geld, Ressoursen und Waffengewalt in dieser Region ersparen.