Erdoğan: Turkey's position on Eastern Mediterranean remains same

Highlighting Ankara's decisive position on the Eastern Mediterranean issue, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday his country will not step back from it.

Speaking at a joint news conference with members of the Presidential Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said Turkey is in a decision-making position in the Eastern Mediterranean and its determined position remains the same.

No compromise is possible for Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, he said.

Responding to a question on diplomatic contacts between Ankara and Cairo, Erdoğan said Egyptian people do not contradict Turkey.

Turkey will send 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Turkish president said, and added that the country aims to expand the trade volume with Sarajevo to $1 billion as soon as possible.

For his part, head of Bosnia's Presidential Council Milorad Dodik said they are interested in the TurkStream pipeline.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, ties between the two countries grew, he stressed, pointing to the deals signed between Ankara and Sarajevo.

The 930-kilometer (578-mile) TurkStream pipeline will carry Russian gas under the Black Sea through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary, with another section reaching Turkey.

The project is the biggest-diameter offshore gas pipeline in the world laid at such depths with a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters per year.