Italy to bar future arms exports to Turkey

Luxembourg, Oct 14 (IANS/AKI) The Italian government is poised to ban future arms export deals to Turkey over its military offensive in Syria and hopes other European Union countries will uphold a pledge do the same, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Monday.

"A ministerial decree will in the next few hours stop the export of arms to Turkey in the case of future contracts," Di Maio said after an EU Foreign Ministers summit in Luxembourg.

It is key that all EU states immediately adopt national bans on future arms exports to Turkey, avoiding "months and months" of work to get agreement on a European arms embargo, he underlined.

Dozens of civilians and fighters have died in the Turkish military offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) which started on 9 October after United States President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of US forces from the region.