3 yıl önce

Erdogan: Türkiye, UAE agree to cooperate in defence, other fields

“I wish that all these agreements will further strengthen our relations with the United Arab Emirates and will be beneficial for our countries and the region," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says.

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Türkiye also taking steps to improve relations with Saudi and Israel similar to those taken with the UAE.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates was successful and productive.

The two countries discussed the joint steps that can be taken to further develop Türkiye-United Arab Emirates relations, Erdogan said while talking to journalist on his return from the Gulf country.

Erdogan said that signed a total of 13 memorandums of understanding and protocols in various fields and reached a consensus in coordination of the joint steps to be taken in the field of defence industry in the upcoming period.

“During our meetings, we also exchanged views on regional and international issues. At this point, we underlined our support for the security and stability of the United Arab Emirates,” he said.

“We emphasised that we do not see the security of the Gulf region as separate from our own security,” the Turkish president said.

During Erdogan's visit, both countries signed important cooperation agreements in health and medical sciences, industry and advanced technologies, combating climate change, agriculture, culture, youth, communication, archive, meteorology, disaster and emergency management.

“I wish that all these agreements will further strengthen our relations with the United Arab Emirates and will be beneficial for our countries and the region," he added

Relationships with Saudi Arabia, Israel

Türkiye is also taking steps to improve relations with Saudi Arabia and Israel, similar to those taken with the UAE.

“We wish to move forward with concrete steps in the coming period. We want to develop this process in a positive direction with Saudi Arabia," Erdogan said.

The Turkish president said: We had positive phone conversations with the President of Israel, Mr Herzog, on various occasions. He is expected to visit our country in March. Of course, we welcome this visit. Hopefully, taking such a step will be good for Türkiye-Israel relations.”

Ukraine crisis

Erdogan also expressed Türkiye's willingness to help ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine and reiterated Ankara's offer to hold a trilateral meeting between leaders of Russia, Türkiye and Ukraine.

Erdogan said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed his positive approach to a trilateral meeting.

"We will hold the meeting in Istanbul or Ankara, if Putin also accepts it," he added.

Earlier this month, Erdogan visited Kiev at the invitation of Zelenskyy as Ankara continued its diplomatic efforts to ease a standoff between Russia and Ukraine.

SOURCE: TRT World