Türkiye against 'unilateral sanctions, external interventions' in Venezuela

Türkiye is opposed to unilateral sanctions and external interventions in Venezuela, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said.

At a press conference on Friday in Istanbul, Fidan said that he and his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil discussed bilateral relations and increased trade volume to $1 billion, with the hopes of bringing it up to $3 billion.

In addition, the two officials signed incentives that will contribute to energy, tourism, transportation, culture and development.

For his part, Gil said he hopes that Türkiye will be the most important and preferred trade partner of Venezuela.

"We see Türkiye as our strategic friend, an ever-rising, leading country and a guarantee of peace and development," Gil said.

Fidan on other international issues

During the press conference, Fidan also said Türkiye believes Russia should be brought to the table to revive the Black Sea grain deal, adding that other solutions have a high probability of endangering security.

Regarding the attacks targeting Islam’s holy book, the Quran, Fidan said: "We believe that unless the Islamic world collectively responds to attacks on the Quran, there would be no awareness in the Western countries on the issue."

Earlier this week, Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal, saying the Russian part of the agreement was not implemented.

The agreement, initially signed in July last year in Istanbul by Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports which had been halted as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war which began in February 2022.

In addition, Fidan spoke about the recent attacks targeting Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

"We believe that unless the Islamic world collectively responds to attacks on the Quran, there would be no awareness in the Western countries on the issue."