Turkish, British, Italian defense ministers meet in Istanbul

The defense ministers of Turkey, Italy, and the U.K. are scheduled for a tripartite meeting in Istanbul late on April 8 for discussing bilateral and regional security and defense cooperation, along with the issue of Ukraine.

Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini and British Defense Minister Ben Wallace would attend the tripartite meeting slated to be hosted by Defense Minister Hulusi Akar in Istanbul, the Defense Ministry said.

NATO member Turkey has strong ties with both Russia and Ukraine and has been playing a facilitator role in efforts to achieve a ceasefire between the two warring sides.

On March 29, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held a face-to-face discussion in Istanbul in a bid to reach a ceasefire.

On March 10, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu facilitated the first ministerial meeting between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey's resort town in southern Antalya province after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on Feb. 24.

Meanwhile, Minister Akar had a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, on April 8. The urgency of the safe evacuation of civilians from land and sea, especially from Mariupol, was emphasized in the discussions, the ministry said. Akar once again expressed that Turkey will continue to do its part to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

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