19.09.2009.

Minister meets with his Turkish counterpart

Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac met with the Turkish Defense Minister Mehmet Vecdi Gonul as the high ranking Turkish delegation was here to attend to ceremonious promotion of new SAF officers.

The two ministers used this meeting to once again confirm good bilateral relations and to consider issues pertaining to bilateral military cooperation, as this visit precedes the visit of the Turkish President to Serbia.

- If we bear in mind that the Chief of SAF GS visited Serbia, and today we have the defense minister of Turkey just before the Turkish President’s visit in October it is clear that both countries will develop their cooperation. Minister said that talks passed in friendly atmosphere and estimated that relations with Turkey in the area of defense were among the best.

- A series of joint activities marked the previous period, and today there was even talk about enlarging cooperation, especially in the fields of training and education, military medicine and military economy, since the minister emphasized that more than 30 members of SAF had attended various forms of training in Turkey, while it has been planned for the SAF members to attend the War College in Turkey next year. soon one Turkish officer will come to the Military Academy.

- Minister also spoke about converting Ladjevci air field.

The final status of Kosovo, is a point of disagreement between the two countries, however, these talks concluded in a joint opinion that the cooperation between SAF and Turkish members of KFOR should be better.
Minister Sutanovac took this opportunity to thank Minister Gonul for the participation of their air force in a recently held air show in Batajnica, and alos expressed pleasure at seeing Minister of Defense of Montenegro Boro Vucnic at today’s promotion of SAF officers, which gives a regional tone to the whole ceremony.
Minister of Defdense of Turkey Mehmet Vecdi Gonul thankd the hosts for a very warm and friendly welcome, stressing that this was his second official visit to Serbia since 2004 when he paid the visit while on the same post. He said that he was pleased and honored for being giving this marvelous opportunity to attend the ceremonious promotion of new SAF officers, while saying he was sorry for not being able to attend the air show in Batajnica air field despite the cordial invitation of Minister Sutanovac. However, al 26 members of Turkish air force had very good impressions of the air show.

Minister Gonul estimated that the relations of the two countries were not limited by borders. He emphasized Serbia’s important role in the Balkans and stressed Turkey’s wish to intensify this role even further. The cooperation with Serbia, as Gonul expects, will be enlarged not only to the economic but to the defense area as well.

Turkish Defense Miinister also gave his own analysis of the defense industry, reminding of the visit of the Serbian delegation’s visit to the international arms fair in turkey. He said that there was a possibility of both defense industries promoting and producing these products together.

Gonul reminded of the high level of cooperation between the two ministries, and of successful joint endeavors in education and training which should be developed even more in the future. The general relations of the two countries, in his opinion, are very good which will be confirmed the visit of the Turkish President to Serbia scheduled for October. The half a billion worth of economic cooperation should be even bigger, as Gonul said.

He concluded his address with the estimated that SAF were having significant potentials and expressed Turkey’s wish to make it stronger and more modern, as both countries share the same goal-peace, stability and prosperity in the region.