Turkish defense minister attends Romanian national day

By Sarp Ozer and Yusuf Hatip

BUCHAREST/SOFIA

Turkey’s defense minister on Friday attended a Romanian national day celebration in the capital Bucharest.

Ahead of a military parade as part of the celebrations, Nurettin Canikli met his Bulgarian counterpart Mihai-Viorel Fifor.

"Turkey is the safest partnership in the region for Romania," Fifor told journalists in a short briefing.

The Romanian national day on Dec. 1, called the Great Union Day, commemorates an assembly of ethnic Romanians held in the city of Alba Iulia in 1918.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s EU minister Omer Celik met Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Sofia.

Celik's agenda was Turkey's EU membership bid and bilateral relations as Bulgaria will start its presidency term of the bloc on 1 July 2018.

Reporting Sarp Ozer and Yusuf Hatip; Writing by Ilker Girit