By Malik Hasa
TIRANE, Albania
Albania is a key country and Albanian an important language for the region, Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said Wednesday.
Cicek was appreciating The Anadolu Agency’s Albanian service when he made the remarks in an interview.
“Seeing from this point of view, covering the events in Albanian and taking the information from the first hand is very important,” he said.
Learning about events from the right language through the right channel is important, he said.
The Anadolu Agency launched its Albanian service on Oct. 1, 2014 as part of its centennial vision to become one of the five most influential agencies in the world by 2020.
The agency currently broadcasts in Turkish, English, Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian, Arabic, Kurdish, French, Russian and Albanian. It aims to broadcast in 11 languages by 2020.
Cicek said Turkey and Albania were friendly and brotherly countries.
The Turkish Parliament speaker said the more the relations between Turkey and Albania developed, the more the two countries and the region benefited.
“We have supported all Albania’s politics, including the NATO and European Union integrations”, Cicek said.
Albania is already a NATO member country, and an EU candidate.
Cicek said that Turkey encouraged its businessmen to invest in Albania.
He added that “increased prosperity of Albania is important for Turkey.”
About Serbian-Albanian tension following the abandoned football match in mid-October, Cicek said the visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Belgrade despite the developments was a positive step.
Cicek said the Balkans was a fragile region, but the problems must be solved peacefully through dialog. Turkey supported all efforts in that direction, he said.
About the killing of a Serbian fan in Istanbul recently, Cicek said that from every society some irresponsible members emerged, but it was not right to create general policies out of such cases.
Marko Ivkovic, 25, was stabbed in the chest outside the Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul last week ahead of a Euroleague basketball game between Serbia's Red Star and Turkey's Galatasaray.
The speaker said that the right way forward was to sustain bilateral friendship, cooperation, mutual understanding in all areas.
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