ANKARA, March 26 (A.A) - An official welcoming ceremony took place at the Cankaya Presidential Palace on Tuesday in honor of President Boris Traykoski of Macedonia who is currently in Turkey on an offical visit as the guest of Presdent Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Sezer said, ''Turkey attributes great importance to its relations with Macedonia. We consider Macedonia a friendly and peaceful country. President Traykovski has succeeded in putting into practice reforms envisaged in the Ohri Agreement in the wake of last year's distressing insidents.''
''Courageous steps have been taken in Macedonia on the path leading to domestic peace, democrasy and prosperity. I appreciate President Traykovski's policies as a statesman. Relations between Turkey and Macedonia have been improving day by day. I believe that consular agreement to be signed during President Traykovski's visit to Turkey, would make a valuable contribution to further improvement of our relations,'' he said.
President Sezer added that they would exchange views on developments in Southeastern Europe.
Meanwhile, President Traykovski said in his part that his visit to Turkey would help bilateral relations to further improve.
Noting that they would take up the issue of security in the region besides other regional and international issues, President Traykovski added that they considered Turkey a strategical partner in regard to Macedonia's membership to both NATO and the European Union.
PRESIDENT SEZER HOSTS DINNER IN HONOUR OF HIS MACEDONIAN COUNTERPART
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer hosted on Tuesday dinner in honour of his Macedonian counterpart Boris Trajkovski.
Sezer said during the dinner that they always condemned the attacks of the groups which aimed to deteriorate the stability in Macedonia and noted, ''as a country which has suffered much from terrorism, we can understand your concerns very well.''
President Sezer stated that reaching political targets through violence was not a method that they could accept and said, ''I would like to once more reiterate the strong support we extend to territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Macedonia since 1991, when it declared its independence.''
Sezer expressed his hope that Turkish people, who were the loyal citizens of Macedonia, would be represented at a desired level in all central and local administrative organs in Macedonia, including the legislative branch.
''We think that Turks, who are the citizens of your country, can play a positive and constructive role in the improvement of bilateral relations,'' Sezer said.
Sezer pointed out that the economic and commercial relations between two countries had not reached the desired level yet and added that they were determined to continue their efforts to further improve the relations.
Trajkovski, in his part, thanked Turkey's support to Macedonia's fight against powers which oppose to Macedonia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and threaten their security.
The Republic of Macedonia had always been a positive example in ensuring minority rights in the region, Trajkovski said.
Trajkovski noted that necessary conditions which would enable the representation of ethnic groups in parliament and public institutions in Macedonia would be created by some constitutional amendments and changes foreseen in the election law.
Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Chief of General Staff Huseyin Kivrikoglu, Constitutional Court Chairman Mustafa Bumin, State Minister Fikret Unlu, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, Greek Ambassador Ioannis Corantis in Ankara were in attendance at the dinner.