Turkish diplomats hospitalized in Macedonia

Government and medical authorities in Macedonia say eight visiting Turkish diplomats have been treated in the hospital treatment for food poisoning.
Four of the diplomats remained in the hospital Monday. The others were released.


Private A1 television says the diplomats visited several restaurants, including a kebab place, in the Old Turkish bazaar in the capital, Skopje.


The diplomats arrived are in Macedonia at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry to speak at seminars at the country's Diplomatic Academy.

Turkish FM Davutoglu pays two-day visit to Macedonia

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pays March 25-26 a visit to Macedonia, upon an invitation by Macedonian counterpart Antonio Milososki.

In addition to talks with his host, Davutoglu is also scheduled to meet President Gjorge Ivanov, Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Moreover, Davutoglu will meet representatives of the Parliament's Macedonia-Turkey Friendship Group.

Meetings will focus on series of significant issues regarding the enhancement of bilateral cooperation, countries' Euro-integration processes, as well as current regional developments.

The high guest will attend the formal opening of Turkey's Honorary Consulate in Ohrid, visit the memorial room of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Bitola, and the Sarena Dzamija (Painted Mosque) in Tetovo.

Davutoglu will also give a lecture on "Turkey's Foreign Policy and Balkans" at Skopje Faculty of Law and promote the Centre for Cultural Cooperation 'Yunus Emre', located at the Skopje-based Turkish Embassy.

TAV started with takeover of airports

Turkish company TAV began the takeover process of Macedonian airports. Representatives of TAV will start offering work contracts to 790 employees of Skopje and Ohrid airports. However, they still do not want to disclose what they are really offering in these contracts.

The new concessionaire is obliged only not to lay off workers for at least next seven years or decrease salaries to any of the employees.

This administrative procedure is expected to be completed by the end of February, when the official takeover of the airports in Skopje and Ohrid has been announced. The renovation and modernization of airport premises and runways modelled after European ones will start at the same time.

TAV Airports Holding to Operate Airports in Macedonia

TAV Airports Holding has won the bid to operate the Alexander the Great Airport in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia and the most important center of the Balkans, St Paul the Apostle International Airport in Ohrid, and the new cargo airport in Shtip.

TAV Airports Holding's offer to operate Alexander the Great airport and St Paul the Apostle International Airport for the next twenty years as well as to build and operate Shtip's New Cargo Airlines was announced as the winning bid by the Macedonian government.

The operations contracts were finalized on September 24th in Macedonia. The President & CEO of TAV Airports Holding, M. Sani Åžener, the Macedonian Minister of Transportation and Communications Mile Janakieski, and various other Macedonian government officials were present.

M. Sani Sener, the CEO of TAV Airports Holding, which in addition to becoming a regional brand in airport management has also become a global company due to its business character, said, "We are very happy to be operating an airport in Europe and that we have been successful in this project that we have been working towards for a very long time. The Macedonian contract also carries the mission to open the door to Europe for TAV Airports Holding, a company that already operates airports in the Middle East, the Caucasus, and North Africa. Another important point for us is that along with the airport operations in Macedonia we have reached our aim of "10 Airports in 10 Years' in only eight years. We are proud to have reached our goals ahead of schedule."

Åžener stated that the operation of airports in Macedonia will serve to further open TAV Airports operations into Europe. Åžener said, "With our projects in Macedonia, which holds a very strategic place in both the world and politics and with which we have shared a 500 year common past, we have said, "Hello, Rumelia*" We have been very successful in this project, which we have worked towards for a very long time. With this project TAV Airports has clinched its place in the international arena, both in the financial and the aviation field."

TAV Airports Holding was the only company, among such global giants as Hochtief (Germany), Egis - Kaupthing Vienna (Austria), and Singer & Friedlander (French - British partnership), which had all passed the first phase of the bidding, to have made it to the final phase and to have been able to meet all of the criteria.

In 2007, 680 thousand passengers used Alexander the Great airport in the capital city of Skopje and St Paul the Apostle International Airport in Ohrid. TAV Airports aims to increase both the passenger and the airline numbers at both of these airports after taking over operations. At the same time it is foreseen that a restructuring will take place that also includes the modernization of the technical infrastructure.

TAV Airport Holding will operate Alexander the Great and St Paul the Apostle International Airport for 20 years. The Shtip Cargo Airport construction is expected to be finished in the second half of 2011.

TAV Airports, an international player in the field of airports management in the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucus, operates Istanbul Ataturk, Ankara Esenboga Domestic and International Terminals and Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport in Turkey; its overseas operations include Georgia Tbilisi Airport and Batumi Airport and Monastir Habib Bourguiba Airport in Tunisia. TAV Airports also holds the rights to operate Antalya GazipaÅŸa Airport and Enfidha Zine Abidine Ben Ali International Airport in Tunisia.

Yazicioglu: Turkey Will Always Support Macedonia

Turkish State Minister Said Yazicioglu attended the opening of the new headquarters of Turkish Democracy Party in Macedonia on Friday.

Yazicioglu said that Republic of Turkey would continue to extend support to Macedonia.

The building of Turkish Democracy Party was constructed with the support of Turkish International Cooperation & Development Agency (TIKA).

Turkish State Minister Nazim Ekren, Turkish Ambassador in Skopje Arslan Hakan Okcal, TIKA Chairman Musa Kulakkaya and Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Yankulovska attended the ceremony.

Turkish bank opens office in Tetovo, Macedonia

The Turkish bank Siraat officially opened today a branch office in the Macedonian town of Tetovo, MIA reports.
Currently there are 10 people working in the office and their number is expected to grow. The opening was attended by the Turkish Deputy PM Nazim Ekrem, the Turkish ambassador to Macedonia Hassan Okcal and representatives of the Macedonian government.

Gül regrets Macedonia not invited to join NATO

President Abdullah Gül has said that he regrets NATO's failure to invite Macedonia to join the alliance because of objections from Greece due to a name dispute with the Balkan country.

"NATO's expansion has always been based on the principle of performance. I am disappointed that this principle has been ignored this time and that a bilateral dispute has blocked the membership of a country," Gül told reporters upon his return from a NATO summit in Bucharest.

The Balkan nations of Albania and Croatia were invited to join the alliance during NATO's Bucharest summit, which ended yesterday. Macedonia, however, was rejected at the insistence of Greece, which says the country's name implies a territorial claim to a northern region of Greece, also called Macedonia. Gül said Turkey backed NATO's "open door" policy concerning expansion of the alliance and added that integration of Balkan countries would help stability and security in the region.

While in Bucharest, Gül met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the first meeting between the two leaders, and briefly discussed Turkey's bid to join the European Union with the French leader, a firm opponent of Turkey's membership. "I am happy that we shared our ideas with Sarkozy frankly and sincerely," he said of the meeting. Sarkozy told Gül in their half-hour meeting on Thursday that his country would not block accession talks between the European Union and Turkey during France's six-month term as EU president in the second half of this year.

The process of accession negotiations with Turkey will continue, Sarkozy told Gül on the sidelines of the NATO summit, the Anatolia news agency reported. France, he said, does not oppose the opening of talks on negotiation chapters.

Sarkozy is firmly opposed to Turkey's membership in the EU, saying Turkey does not belong in Europe. France also opposes the opening of accession talks on five chapters that it says are directly related to accession but says talks on other chapters can go ahead. France is taking over the EU's presidency in June from Slovenia, the current holder.

Sarkozy told Gül that some of the chapters could be opened during the French presidency. Gül, for his part, emphasized that Turkey wants full membership in the EU and rejects other alternatives, such as a privileged partnership proposed by German and French politicians.

France is planning a return to NATO's military command, which it quit in 1966. Addressing the NATO summit, Sarkozy said he expected to take a decision on rejoining the integrated military structure after using France's six-month presidency of the EU to build closer European defense integration. Turkey, a NATO member, has raised no immediate objection to French return to NATO's military command. Turkish officials said France's NATO ambition and Paris' objections to Turkey's EU membership are two issues that are considered separately. French plans to return to NATO's military command have led to speculation in Turkey that Ankara might pressure France to drop its objections to Turkish membership in order to help its bid.

While in Bucharest, Gül also met briefly with US President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.