Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia paid the official visit to the Republic of Turkey. Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia and Minister of Defence of the Republic of Turkey expressed their whish for good cooperation between defence industries of the two countries today in Ankara. During the talks, both ministers highlighted that Croatia and Turkey are friendly countries between which there were no opened issues and emphasized that Croatia was to be future NATO member.
Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia and Minister of Defence of the Republic of Turkey expressed their whish for good cooperation between defence industries of the two countries today in Ankara. During the talks, both ministers highlighted that Croatia and Turkey are friendly countries between which there were no opened issues and emphasized that Croatia was to be future NATO member.
Minister Gonul said that both countries would cooperate on the defence field, and stressed that there were good cooperation between the countries, which both negotiate on EU accession. Turkish Minister of Defence said that visit of his Croatian counterpart was not only visit to the defence ministry but also to Turkish defence industry.
Saying that Croatia and Turkey were also interconnected through history, Minister Vukelic said that Croatia fully supports Turkey on its path to the EU. The Minister also thanked for Turkish support during Homeland War and during NATO accession process.
The Minister stated that Croatia received invitation to join NATO and that it intensively worked on implementation of all its commitments. He also expressed his hope that Turkey would soon ratify Accession Protocol on Croatia's joining NATO.
Before he visited Ministry of Defence, Minister Vukelic laid wreath in the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Vukelic also attended today's session of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Turkish Parliament which discussed the ratification of the Protocol on Croatia's accession to NATO. During the session of the Committee, both governing and opposition parties expressed their support to Croatia's joining NATO and according to announcements soon was to be expected the ratification in Parliament.
Republic of Turkey is a full-fledged NATO member since 1952 and is particularly important in creating of security and stability in Euro-Atlantic Region. Turkey participates in NATO and UN peace support missions.
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Turkey has 801 thousand members with almost 380 thousand reserve forces.
By the number of armed forces members, it is the second NATO member. Defence budget of the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Turkey for 2008 is 7,8 billion euros.
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