Military chiefs from former Balkan foes pledge cooperation

THESSALONIKI, Greece, April 17 – Military chiefs from 10 southeast European countries _ including Albania _ said Wednesday they would cooperate in dealing with terrorist threats and coordinating their response to natural disasters. There were also noted some sharp disagreements about air space rights over the Aegean Sea between NATO allies Greece and Turkey. A declaration was signed by defense chiefs of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey, who held a rare one-day meeting in this northern Greek city. Greece’s Adm. Panagiotis Chinofotis said the agreement also included establishing better communication between militaries across southeast Europe; join training exercises, and holding annual meetings. Next year’s meeting will be held in Antalya, Turkey, he said. “This meeting marks a transformation from a conference to a regional institution,” Chinofotis.
Earlier, Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Meimarakis Wednesday’s talks demonstrated the success of efforts to abandon the region’s legacy of conflict. “The Balkans are no longer the tinderbox of Europe … We want this region to be a peaceful neighborhood,” Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Meimarakis said. “But the region still requires close attention. Evidence of this is the failure to find a commonly agreed resolution concerning the final status of Kosovo.” The province of southern Serbia has been run by a U.N. mission since 1999, when NATO airstrikes halted a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanian rebels. The province’s ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, but Serbs strongly object. A U.N. plan for Kosovo’s future recommends it eventually be granted independence.
In May 2006, a Greek fighter pilot was killed when a Greek F-16 jet and a Turkish aircraft collided while shadowing each other over the Aegean. The Turkish pilot ejected safely. “International law cannot be viewed differently depending on your perspective … it is an imperative (required) for good neighborly relations,” Chinofotis said. Turkey’s military chief denied Greek allegations for frequent air space violations. “Turkish fighters do not violate Greek air space, they fly over international air space in the Aegean … International air space is free for all aircraft,” Buyukanit said.