What do Turkish-led Middle East-Europe talks aim to achieve?
Arab News · Dr. Sinem Cengiz ·
What do Turkish-led Middle East-Europe talks aim to achieve?
As the Middle East remains on tenterhooks, regional countries at the forefront of the US-Iran crisis are stepping up all possible diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions. On Oct. 23, the foreign ministers of the so-called R4 (Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt) and the E3+1 (the UK, France, Germany and Italy) met in Istanbul.
Initiated by Turkiye, the meeting was the first of its kind to bring together the R4 and E3 countries in this format. It represented an attempt to build a stronger bridge between regional and European powers, bringing them together to address crises that increasingly affect both regions’ security and economy.
Europe has long been criticized in political discussions for being relatively absent from regional affairs. So, the central idea of the meeting was to encourage it to take greater responsibility for resolving security challenges that concern not only regional countries but also Europe. Without European cooperation, particularly as the US becomes the main actor in the escalating tensions, regional coordination will not have a sustainable impact.
Read the full story at Arab News · All coverage of this story