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SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Turkish president Abdullah Gul pledged his country's continued commitment to the Western Balkans in Sarajevo on Thursday, rejecting claims that Turkey exhibits a pro-Muslim bias.
Gul said Turkey will continue intense diplomacy aimed at helping the countries of the former Yugoslavia, notably Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia, to overcome differences that have remained since the 1990s wars in the region.
He rejected criticism by Bosnian Serb leaders that Turkey favours Bosnia's Muslims over the country's Serb and Croat people.
"Achievement of a lasting peace, security and stability in the region is at the hart of our policy," Gul said after meeting with members of Bosnia's tripartite presidency.
Gul said Turkey had no intention of interfering in the "internal affairs" of the former Yugoslav countries, but said "nobody can prevent us from co-operating among ourselves".
In an address to Bosnia's central parliament later Thursday, Gul said Turkey considered all Balkan countries its neighbours "regardless of whether we share a border or not".
"We want to see this region become a heart of Europe...a crossroads of important political and economic corridors," he said.
"Anything outside this is not on our agenda", he added rejecting comments to the contrary as "tendentious".
Despite Turkey's improving relations with Serbia, Bosnian Serbs regard Turkey's growing influence in the Western Balkans with suspicion.
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik accused Turkey on Thursday of having a "hidden agenda" for the Balkans, saying the Serbs should not be "naive" about Turkey's intentions.
Turkey has had traditionally close ties with Muslim Bosniaks, while its relations with Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia were strained during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, which pitted Serbs against Muslims.
