ANKARA - National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul paid an official visit to Ukraine between May 12-15 as the guest of Ukrainian Defense Minister General Volodymyr Shkidchenko.
Releasing a statement on Thursday, the National Defense Ministry Secretariat General said that during his visit, Gonul had had meetings with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Defense Minister Shkidchenko and Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko.
The statement said Gonul had held meetings on bilateral relations, relations between the NATO and Ukraine, international developments and military and cooperation in defense industry.
Stressing that Turkey attributed importance to development of relations with Ukraine in every field, the statement said, ''the recent visit of the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs to Turkey, National Defense Minister Gonul's visit to Ukraine and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's scheduled visit to Ukraine next month constitute concrete examples of importance in our bilateral relations.''
Noting that Turkey supported integration of Ukraine which was one of the Black Sea littoral states and an important element of peace and stability in its region, with the European-Atlantic organizations and institutions, and military trainings had been held regarding these issues, the statement said, ''we attribute importance to cooperation on basis of the mutual benefits principle with Ukraine which has important technological opportunities also in field of defense industry.''
''Besides, the National Defense Minister had the opportunity of visiting the Crimea region, and met with Autonomous Republic of Crimea Prime Minister Sergiy Kunitsin and Crimean Tatar Assembly Prime Minister Mustafa Cemiloglu and discussed problems of Crimean Tatars,'' it said.
During his contacts, Gonul had said they were pleased with the Ukraine's positive and sensitive policies towards the Tatar kinsmen in Crimea, and the President and Crimean officials had been told that the same interest was expected.
(MS-AÖ) 15.05.2003