Skopje, 11 December 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski says he is thinking of sending Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan a message in the coming days for the purpose of speeding up the extradition procedure of double murder suspect Ljupcho Palevski, saying it should not be allowed for the process to last "too long".

Asked by MRTV's 360 Degrees if the process could be delayed, considering Turkey's demands related to FETO members in North Macedonia, Pendarovski said Erdogan delivered such a demand in 2019 as condition for Turkey's ratification of the country's NATO Accession Protocol.

"I explained the situation to President Erdogan and all related aspects, including the undeniable fact that we want to join the Alliance, which includes other rather powerful states that issue completely opposite demands, saying that other ratifications will be stalled if you do this or that. Erdogan understood me perfectly and the Turkish parliament ratified the protocol in the next 24 hours, without any specific demands over those 15 individuals," says Pendarovski.

According to him, it is still too early to give an overall assessment of the actions taken by institutions in the murder case but adds there is an impression that the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecutor's Office have done their work at this stage "in a rather swift and efficient way".

The President adds that VMRO-DPMNE's comments on the delayed investigation are in fact dissemination of speculation by leader Hristijan Mickoski in an attempt to turn the attention away from his meetings with the prime suspect.

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