Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 3 - Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Thursday Turkey attached great importance to Bosnia-Herzegovina's integration into EU and NATO, and he pledged support to Bosnia's NATO bid. ''Because, we believe security and stability in the Balkans could be achieved more easily under the roof of both EU and NATO,'' Gul told a joint press conference with Bosnia-Herzegovina's Presidency Chairman Haris Silajdzic in Sarajevo.

However, as Anatolia news agency reports, Gul urged Bosnian government to make necessary reforms on the path to NATO and said Bosnia-Herzegovina should act together with surrounding countries to become a member of EU and NATO. On his part, Silajdzic said that Turkish President Gul underscored the importance of security and stability in the Balkans at their meeting and thanked Turkey for its support to Bosnia. Silajdzic described bilateral relations as perfect and said ''it is a relation which I could even describe as extraordinary.'' (ANSAmed).