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ForMin Aurescu meets Turkish counterpart, discusses strengthening NATO posture on Eastern Flank
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, on Friday had a meeting in Brussels with his counterpart from the Republic of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the sidelines of the extraordinary meeting of the heads of diplomacy in NATO states, the two having an exchange of "in-depth" views on the security implications of the Russian Federation's military aggression against Ukraine for the Black Sea region.
The Romanian and Turkish Foreign Ministers discussed in detail the issues and measures taken to strengthen in a coherent and unified manner NATO's posture of deterrence and defence on the entire Eastern Flank, from north to south, including by speeding up the establishment of the NATO Battle Group in Romania, shows a press release of the MAE (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) sent to AGERPRES on Friday.
Bogdan Aurescu presented the Romanian side's assessment of the regional situation and condemned in "the strongest terms" Russia's military aggression against Ukraine as a "flagrant, repeated violation of the principles of international law, especially the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
At the same time, the head of the Romanian diplomacy welcomed the implementation by Turkey of its responsibilities in a war situation under the Montreux Convention, which came into force on November 9, 1936, regulating the civil and military naval traffic regime through the Black Sea straits Bosphorus and Dardanelles.
Aurescu and Cavusoglu also discussed the concrete steps they can take in supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Thus, Minister Bogdan Aurescu informed about the decision of Romania to set up a logistics centre on its territory, which would allow the collection and transport of international donations in the field of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which can also be used by Turkey.
The Turkish Foreign Minister "especially" thanked for Romania's help in evacuating the Turkish citizens from Ukraine, but also for Romania's efforts to evacuate Ukrainian and other citizens. He agreed with the assessments of the Romanian counterpart regarding the security situation in the region and regarding the need to strengthen the position on the Eastern Flank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states.
During the meeting, the two high officials also addressed the current status of the bilateral strategic partnership, as well as the opportunities to strengthen it.