Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) and his North Macedonian counterpart Timco Mucunski (L) arrive for a joint press conference in Skopje, North Macedonia, September 5, 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

Turkey’s Foreign Minister said on Thursday in Skopje that he hopes North Macedonia’s new right-wing government, led by the VMRO DPMNE party, elected in June, “will be sensitive” about the need to fight terrorism, “especially by FETO”.

Hakan Fidan make the remarks at a joint press conference with his host, North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister, Timco Mucunski.

Ankara holds the exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen responsible for the 2016 failed coup in Turkey and has since cracked down hard on his supporters, calling them the “FETO”, short for Fethullah Terrorist Organisation.

“FETO poses a serious threat not only to Turkey but also to the countries where it is present. We expect North Macedonia to give stronger support to the fight against this terrorist organisation,” Fidan said.

Fidan did not explain exactly what North Macedonia is expected to do, but his statement was seen as an attempt to test the resolve of the new cabinet in Skopje.

Ankara has previously demanded the deportation and extradition of alleged “Gulenists”. In 2021, it delivered North Macedonia a list of 86 alleged “Gulenists”, 20 of whom it wanted extradited to Turkey. In 2019, Skopje said that Ankara was demanding the extradition of 15 Turkish citizens.

Gulen has denied responsibility for the failed 2016 coup, and the US has ignored Turkish demands for it to extradite him.

The former Social Democratic government in North Macedonia maintained an ambiguous stance to these requests, insisting that it was cooperating with Ankara over the issue while at the same time arguing that, as an EU candidate country, it must let the courts decide on such demands based on evidence and respect for international law.

As a result, no actual deportations or extraditions of Gulenists have reportedly taken place from North Macedonia.

Mucunski did not comment on the issue during their joint press conference.

In the past, Fidan headed Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency, MIT, which reportedly brought more than 100 suspected Gulenists back to Turkey under his oversight, often using controversial covert operations that soured relations with some countries, such as Kosovo, Albania and Moldova.

The international watchdog Human Rights Watch said in a report that Turkey was one of the leading countries involved in “transnational repression” – targeting government critics abroad.

The open issue has so far not spoiled otherwise traditionally close political and economic ties between Turkey and North Macedonia.

During the current visit, both ministers pledged to work on doubling levels of trade exchange, from one to two billion euros annually, and discusssed increasing Turkish investments in North Macedonia.