The unblocking of the integration processes is crucial for long-term stability, security and progress of the entire region. In the next period, we expect constructive support, assistance and open lobbying for membership of the Republic of Macedonia in the Alliance by our friends – NATO member states. The invitation for membership will be an additional impetus for the national reform processes and will be a positive example in the region, President Gjorge Ivanov said after today’s meeting in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
-In the 21st century, it is unacceptable that the sovereign right to self-determination of a State guaranteed by the Charter of the United Nations be contested by any other state. The difference in name should be resolved within the framework of the UN and within the framework defined by the United Nations Charter, the UN Security Council Resolutions, the Interim Accord and the International Court of Justice judgment of 2011. Asking questions and meddling into hot issues such as identity, language and the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia does not contribute, but on the contrary it makes it difficult to find a solution. I am pleased that President Erdogan expressed his full understanding of our views regarding this topic on this visit and on this occasion, said Ivanov, who is on an official visit to Turkey.
Ivanov also thanked for the long-standing principled and unreserved support and especially for the way Turkey supports Macedonia on its path to full-fledged NATO membership.
-We are the first to recognize the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia. What we thought then, we think now. We do not move left or right. Turkey in diplomacy never acts ambiguously. After we have made our decision, we’d rather die, but we are not going back – stated Erdogan, noting that despite the recognition of the constitutional name of Macedonia and the name of the nation, Turkey was the first country to send its ambassador to Macedonia.
