G20 Rome, Erdogan: “Very positive relations with Draghi”

“Very good”. This is how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replied, smiling, to journalists who asked him how his relations with Prime Minister Mario Draghi were going in the aftermath of the bilateral in Rome. During a press conference at the end of the G20 summit, Erdogan spoke of possible “positive developments” with Italy in the defense industry and on the issue of trade relations, reaffirming the goal of achieving an exchange of at least 30 billion dollars. Erdogan thanked Italy for organizing the event. “We will not open the doors to mass migration from Afghanistan,” he said on the issue of migrants. “We are one of the countries that are most affected by immigration from Afghanistan”, continued Erdogan, explaining that he also spoke about the situation in Kabul with the president of the United States, Joe Biden. “The question of Afghanistan has also emerged. We have assessed the situation. What steps will we take, time will tell”, added Erdogan, stressing that Turkey “in Afghanistan will act on the basis of the behavior of the Taliban”. On the sale of fighters. F16 to Turkey we saw a “positive approach” from the president of the United States, he continued. “You have weight in the Senate and in the House, we expect the necessary attention from you” on the process for the authorization to sell fighters in Congress, Erdogan told Biden, explaining that he had also raised with the American leader the question of the return of the money advanced by Turkey to the US for the purchase of the F35s and that Ankara is now asking for them to be hijacked for the F16s. concluded the Turkish leader, “I also expressed regret for the US supply of weapons to the YPG”, the Kurdish militias from the Syrian branch of the PKK that Turkey considers a terrorist organization.