EU should coordinate with Türkiye on European, Black Sea security: Fidan
ANKARA
Türkiye’s active participation with European security mechanisms will be critically important to the security of the European continent and the Black Sea basin, the Turkish top diplomat has underlined.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with visiting Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu on Nov. 7 in the Turkish capital and discussed bilateral ties and regional developments as well as recent developments regarding European security.
“The EU should adopt a long-term and strategic perspective for European security. Türkiye’s active participation in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) will be of crucial importance for European security,” Minister Fidan said at a joint press conference.
SAFE is a 150-billion-euro financial instrument that aims to boost the defense industry production of the European countries in the face of the growing threat from Russia. Türkiye is currently blocked by Greece and Greek Cyprus.
The EU has recently approved its strategy for the security of the Black Sea region, recalled Fidan, stressing that Brussels’ coordination with Türkiye on this matter would yield desired results in terms of food security and maritime security.
He also underlined that recent geopolitical changes have shown the importance of Turkish-EU cooperation while welcoming the fact that this has been also realized by a growing number of European countries.
For her part, Minister Toiu repeated Bucharest’s support for Türkiye’s full membership to the EU. “We are of the opinion that Türkiye’s full membership will be of critical importance to the security of Europe and the Black Sea,” she stressed.
“We are conveying this message to my colleagues in the EU as well,” Minister Toiu recalled, underlining that is also important for NATO.
Gaza peace efforts
On Gaza, Fidan stressed that Israel is not fulfilling its responsibilities and continuing to disallow the entrance of sufficient numbers of trucks carrying humanitarian aid for civilians.
“Palestinians are genuinely implementing the agreement and their efforts to return the bodies of hostages is a concrete demonstration of this,” he stated.
Informing that a draft resolution for the establishment of an international mission to be deployed to Gaza is now being circulated among all relevant parties, Fidan stressed that Ankara is conveying its opinions regarding this resolution to the U.S.
“The mistakes committed in the past should be in the consideration while drafting this resolution,” Fidan said.
