Italian PM Giuseppe Conte Backs EU Ban On Arms Sales To Turkey

Amid Turkey’s offensive in Syria, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Sunday said Italy will support an EU ban on arms sales to Ankara. Conte, who was speaking ahead of a meeting of European Union’s foreign affairs committee on the issue in Luxembourg on Monday, extended support for a ban on arms export to Turkey. “Italy will promote this initiative in all multilateral forums and will work to combat Turkish military action in the northeast of Syria with every instrument permitted by international law”, a statement from Conte’s office reads.

Several European countries, including Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, have already announced a halt in arms supplies to Turkey.

However, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that threats of sanctions and arms embargoes by Western powers would not stop the military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria.

Turkey’s military campaign comes in the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Sunday that US troops deployed in northern Syria were pulling back from the border.

Also Read: Syria Tensions: France Halts Arms Exports To Turkey

Moreover, France said it had suspended all planned exports of “war materials” to Turkey that could be used in their offensive into Syria. The Paris statement came hours after Germany, one of Turkey’s main arms suppliers, also said it had suspended exports.