Italy's Draghi 'encourages Erdoğan to rejoin İstanbul Convention'

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Italy's PM Maurizo Draghi said he advised President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to rejoin the İstanbul Convention, a Council of Europe Treaty for combating violence against women, during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey's capital, yesterday (July 6).

Speaking at a joint press conference after the meeting, Draghi said, "In our conversation, we also discussed the importance of respecting human rights."

"I encouraged President Erdogan to rejoin the İstanbul Convention on violence against women," he said.

The PM also raised the importance of environment, refugees, climate and biodiversity, he said.

The two leaders traded barbs last year after Erdoğan issued a decree pulling Turkey out of the convention, with Draghi calling Turkey's president a "dictator." The Foreign Ministry had summoned Italy's ambassador after Draghi's remarks.

Draghi and Erdoğan did not mention the quarrel at yesterday's press conference.

Ahead of the news conference, Turkey and Italy signed nine cooperation agreements in several areas including defense, trade, diplomacy and development.

The two leaders also discussed Turkey-EU relations and the Russia-Ukraine war, said Erdoğan.

"I would like to state that I thanked Draghi for Italy's support for further improvement of our relationship with the union.

"The developments in our region have concretely demonstrated once again that Turkey is important in many fields for the EU," he added.

"We exchanged views on the return to the negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine and the UN plan for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea," said the president. (SD/VK)