BOSNIAN PRESIDENT SILAJDZIC VISITS TURKEY

ANKARA, Turkey (September 3,2008) - The Turkish President Abdullah Gul today highlighted the importance of Turkey's ties with Bosnia, saying that "we maintain our efforts to protect Bosnia's sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity."

Gul made the remarks at a joint news conference after his talks with the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic, who is currently in Ankara for a state visit.Bosnian President Silajdzic arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara today as the guest of Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

Gul welcomed Silajdzic as well as accompanying members of the Bosnian State Presidency Zeljko Komsic and Nebojsa Radmanovic at Cankaya Presidential Palace.

After that,Gul and Silajdzic held a bilateral meeting.They held a joint news conference after their meeting.

"Turkey is an influential member of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, the international body charged with implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement for Bosnia. We maintain our efforts to protect Bosnia's sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity. Since we attach great importance to a lasting peace in the Balkans, we support the multi-cultural structure in Bosnia. Therefore, we keep an equal distance with all ethnic groups," Turkish President Gul said during the news conference.

"Bosnia signed a partnership agreement with the EU in June of 2008 and initiated intensified dialogue with NATO following the summit in Bucharest. There are quite important developments. He hope that Bosnia will speed up its reform process and become member of those international structures. This will help its becoming an influential and sustainable state," he said.

Gul added that his talks with his Bosnian guest focused on economic, political, cultural and commercial relations as well as the issues of energy, tourism and transportation.

Bosnian President Silajdzic, on his part, said that an environment of peace, stability and prosperity should be created in the region without wasting any more time.

Referring to recent tension between Georgia and Russia, President Silajdzic said that anything within the international law should be made to stop killing of civilians.

President Silajdzic also touched on good political and economic relations between Bosnia and Turkey and called on Turkish businessmen to make more investments in Bosnia.

President Silajdzic and the accompanying delegation have also visited the Turkish parliament and met Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan.

Speaking at the meeting, Toptan said that Turkey had extended full support to development of Bosnia. He said that he was planning to pay a visit to Bosnia in the coming months.

Toptan said that Turkey attached great importance to political and territorial integrity of Bosnia, and extended support to the country's efforts to integrate with European institutions.

Meanwhile, Bosnian President Silajdzic said on his part that two of Bosnia's most important strategic targets were accession to the EU and NATO membership.

President Silajdzic also added that the economic relations between Bosnia and Turkey should be further improved.
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ENERGOINVEST SEEKS PARTNERS TO EXPLORE FOR OIL AND GAS IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 3,2008) - The largest Bosnian engineering group, Energoinvest, issued an international tender today seeking partners to explore potential natural gas and oilfields in Bosnia.

Record crude prices have prompted the Bosnian government to revive oil and gas exploration plans dating back to before the 1992-95 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia, when U.S. and British researchers found oil deposits in the country's north and south.

Energoinvest was the local partner in the original project and the FBIH entity regional government ordered it last year to draft a plan of exploration of five potential oilfields for 2008-2017.

The company invited firms and investors with a long-term record in natural gas and oil exploration to send non-binding letters of intent within a month from September 3.

Potential partners should have capital of at least $100 million invested in exploration for oil, gas and mineral resources in the past five years.

Malaysian, British and Canadian companies have already expressed interest in exploring some of the potential oilfields in Bosnia.
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BOSNIAN JOURNALISTS TESTIFIED AT TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL NOVAK DJUKIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 3,2008) - At the trial of Serbian war criminal Novak Djukic the Bosnian State Prosecutior examined yesterday two journalists, who reported on the massacre on May 25, 1995, after the shelling of Kapija, in Tuzla,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Prosecution considers that, on May 25, 1995 Serbian war criminal Novak Djukic ordered the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's artillery squad, situated in Panjik village on mount Ozren, to shell the eastern Bosnian city of Tuzla, using 130mm cannons.

On May 25, 1995, a mortar hit the Kapija area in Tuzla, where young Bosnian people used to gather, killing 71 and wounding 240 Bosnian civilians.

The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges this crime upon Serbian war criminal Novak Djukic, former commander of a genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's paramilitary unit (VRS).

Salih Brkic, journalist from Tuzla, told the Trial Chamber that he arrived in Kapija, together with a cameraman, "15 or 20 minutes" after the shell had hit the area.

"When I got there I saw an eerie scene. Then we went to the hospital. Only after we had arrived there, I realised how big the scale of the tragedy was. Bodies of killed people were lying in the corridor. It was a horrible scene. One of the most shocking scenes I saw was the body of three-year old Sandro Kalesic, who was the youngest victim. He was dead, but his eyes were open," Brkic said.

A video recording, made by Brkic in the premises of the Bosnian Army Headquarters in September 1995, was shown in the courtroom. The recording was made after the Ozren area had been conquered. It shows confiscated documents belonging to the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS).

The video recording shows "an artillery operating map", containing VRS targets in Tuzla. Kapija was one of them.

Robert Andrejac, who was "chief of cameramen with Tuzla television" in May 1995, and journalist Adis Nisic, who was at Kapija when the grenade was fired, testified at this hearing.

"I cannot describe what I saw at that moment. There are no adequate words that could describe it. I saw bodies of all those people. I was totally paralysed. After that I received a message that I should report to work. We worked for two or three days, without any breaks. Most of the time our reports focused on the happenings in the Tuzla clinics," Nisic said.

The witnesses said that "a secret funeral" was organised. It was conducted at 4 a.m., because people were afraid of yet another shelling.

"Tuzla residents could not attend the funeral. Only those who had been informed about it came," Salih Brkic said.

The trial of Serbian war criminal Novak Djukic is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on October 7, when the Prosecution will examine Vedo Tuce, court medicine expert.
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