Foreign ministers of Turkey, Germany, France, UK hold teleconference meeting

ANKARA

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Germany, France and the U.K. have held a teleconference to discuss regional issues and latest developments, a written statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on late May 19.

The quadrilateral meeting of the foreign ministers came as a follow-up to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s quadrilateral summit meeting on March 17, with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, said the Foreign Ministry.

“At the meeting, the current situation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the possible common steps to be taken, and the latest regional developments, especially in Syria, Libya and Iraq, were discussed in detail,” the statement said.

The meeting was useful in exchanging views on these issues, it added. The foreign ministers agreed to meet again within the same framework, the statement concluded without setting a date.

On March 17, the leaders of Turkey, Germany, the U.K. and France discussed the Syria crisis, including methods of humanitarian aid to Syria’s northwestern Idlib province and the migrant issue as well as joint action against coronavirus.

Tens of thousands of migrants tried to get into Greece, a European Union member state, after Turkey said on Feb. 28 it would no longer keep them on its territory as part of a 2016 deal with Brussels in return for EU aid. The European Union has called on Turkey to stop the migrants, from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa as well as Syria, trying to cross the border. But the migrant crisis on the Turkish-Greek border seems to have calmed after the outbreak as Ankara rescinded that order.

Turkey has been one of the main routes for asylum seekers wanting to reach Europe, especially since Syria’s civil war started in 2011.

Turkish, Russian top diplomats discuss pandemic

Meanwhile, Turkish and Russian top diplomats held a phone call to discuss the latest developments on the novel coronavirus outbreak, diplomatic sources said on May 20. 

Çavuşoğlu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov also addressed tourism and regional issues, the sources added.