Britain’s top diplomat, David Lammy, had top-level talks in Ankara on Monday that focused on developments in the Middle East and stronger bilateral trade ties on his first visit to Turkey.
It was the first official visit by the British foreign secretary, who took office a year ago and had talks with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Speaking after the talks, Fidan said the pair discussed the 12-day Iran-Israel war that ended nearly a week ago and the importance of shoring up the ceasefire.
“One of our biggest current strategic goals is for the agreement reached between Iran and Israel to continue, for the ceasefire not to be violated and for a permanent peace to return,” he said.
He also thanked Lammy for Britain’s move to lift sanctions on Syria in late April and noted that Lammy “said he would go to Syria soon.”
“This is truly an important area of cooperation for us. Stability and security in Syria is an issue that will serve both the region and all of us globally. We will continue to work together on this issue.”
Turkish officials did not say what Lammy discussed in talks with Erdoğan.
The visit came as the two sides sought to “strengthen our bilateral relationship with a free trade agreement … [that] will be building on £28 billion worth of trade,” Lammy said after meeting with Fidan.
The talks also focused on deepening defense ties and joint work on regional security, Lammy’s office said.
“Security and defense collaboration with Turkey is imperative to UK security interests. This includes joint work on the prospective export of Eurofighter Typhoon to Turkey,” it said, without giving further details.
Turkey has been pushing to modernize its air force by purchasing 40 Eurofighter Typhoons, which are built by a four-nation consortium comprising Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy.
Although London is leading the talks, any of the four nations can veto a sale, with Berlin initially slow to approve the sale due to differences over Turkey’s hardline stance on the Gaza war.
© Agence France-Presse