RIGA, Latvia
Turkey’s foreign minister held a meeting with EU’s foreign policy chief to discuss recent developments in Libya and Syria in Latvia's capital Riga.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federice Mogherini was closed to the press.
Cavusoglu headed to Latvia after his Germany and France visits to attend the EU Foreign Ministers' meetings. Apart from recent developments in Libya and Syria, the meeting with the EU foreign policy chief also discussed energy cooperation between the EU and Turkey as well as Turkey's EU membership process, diplomatic sources said.
Addressing the media before the foreign ministers’ meetings, Mogherini spoke about Ukraine, which she said needed "not only the full respect to its territorial integrity and sovereignty, but also peace."
Mogherini also mentioned that the sanctions would continue against Russia. "They (sanctions) will not be lifted until something really good happens on the ground and on the other side we are always ready to increase the pressure if needed," Mogherini added.
She also mentioned the meetings would start with Libya, where two competing parliaments in the volatile country had been raising tensions.
"This is a symbolic and an important sign, because in the far northeast of Europe, we start with an issue that is not only the concern of the southern states, but the whole European Union," Mogherini said.
Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.
