Turkish, French FMs hold phone conversation

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, engaged in a telephone conversation to discuss the Turkish Cypriot government's Pile-Yiğitler Road project and the critical grain deal.

According to a statement issued by the Turkish ministry, Fidan apprised Colonna of the road project, which is designed to facilitate seamless access from Turkish Cyprus to Pile Village, located on the Green Line under the purview of the United Nations.

Turkish Cyprus' Foreign Ministry previously emphasized that the project was devised for "purely humanitarian reasons."

In an official communication, the ministry highlighted that the expansion and enhancement of the Pile-Yiğitler Road aimed to grant local residents in Pile convenient access to their lands, foster economic growth within the region and enable passage through the village to the British Sovereign Base Area without dependency on external assistance.

The phone conversation, held at the request of the French side, also delved into discussions concerning the Black Sea grain initiative. The agreement, which had been brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations, encountered a setback when Russia decided to withdraw from it on July 17, alleging unfulfilled obligations by its counterparts.