Turkish, British, Ukrainian defense ministers meet in Brussels

BRUSSELS

Defense ministers of Turkey, Britain and Ukraine had a tripartite meeting and discussed current issues on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers meeting.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, exchanged opinions on regional defense and security issues, and the latest developments in Ukraine on June 16.

In this context, the issues of safe travel for the grain-laden ships from Ukrainian ports to world markets and ensuring safe transportation of A400M aircraft to Türkiye were also discussed.

Akar also had a meeting with his Georgian counterpart Juansher Burchuladze, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht met with Montenegrin Defense Minister Rasko Konjevic and Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini.

NATO defense ministers gathered on June 16 for talks focusing on bolstering forces and deterrence along the military alliance’s eastern borders to dissuade Russia from planning further aggression. The war by the Kremlin in Ukraine since February has led allies to rethink strategies and to agree that NATO forces should be present in greater numbers on that flank.

They have already beefed up the deployment of troops and material and want to guarantee a long-term presence of forces. In response to the invasion of Ukraine, NATO says it has placed over 40,000 troops under its direct command, mainly on the eastern flank.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said allies will take decisions on the scale of their posture for the longer-term “to ensure that we can defend every inch of Allied territory.” The meeting of defense ministers came ahead of a June 29-30 NATO summit in Madrid that will seek to set a determined course for the alliance over the coming years.

Türkiye has clearly voiced its opposition to Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO accession. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insists Finland and Sweden must show more respect for Turkish sensitivities about terrorism and end the arms export ban on Türkiye.