Turkey Supports Nato Membership For Macedonia, Albania And Croatia

ANKARA (CIHAN) - The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) stated on Tuesday that it supports NATO membership for Macedonia, Albania and Croatia.
"The TBMM positively supports NATO membership for these three countries," declared a statement issued by the government.
The three Balkan countries - Albania, Croatia and Macedonia - have stepped up preparations for their bids to obtain NATO candidate status in order to be ready before the NATO Summit in Istanbul on June 28-29. The three countries issued a joint declaration demanding confirmation of their NATO candidateship for the alliance's next round of enlargement. The Foreign Ministers of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia met in the Macedonian capital of Skopje and issued the statement.
In the last wave of expansion, Bulgaria and six other Eastern European countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO in March 2004. The number of NATO member countries reached 26 with these latest additions.